Being Gluten-Free in Africa

For those of you who don’t know, I have Celiac’s disease. Celiac’s disease is a condition where a person’s body is unable to digest gluten. Gluten is found in grains such as wheat, flour, barley, rye, and oats.

Being gluten-free in the States can be challenging. Whenever I go out to eat, I have to call ahead and check the menu to make sure they have gluten-free options. Unfortunately, not all restaurants have gluten-free options. Luckily, most of my friends in the States know my allergy and are always very considerate about my food restrictions. In addition, Celiac’s disease is becoming more common and more information about it is being spread. Grocery stores have gluten-free aisles and companies are now including gluten allergen information on their products. This is making it easier for people who have gluten allergies to eat out safely.

However, no one knows about Celiac’s Disease or gluten allergies in Africa. When I first arrived in Serowe for Pre-Service Training, I had to explain about my allergy to my host family. My host mother did not understand. I had to explain to her many times, and in many different ways what I could and couldn’t eat. I had to explain that pasta has gluten in it. I had to explain that I can’t eat oil that has touched gluten before. And I had to explain that the spoon they use to cook food with can’t be set down on the counter, because the counter has wheat on it, and I will get sick from cross-contamination. The first week or so in Serowe, I got sick often. However, after most of the gluten had been purged from the house, and once my host mother understood what my allergy was, I didn’t get sick anymore.

Being gluten-free in Africa, however, is a bit harder than it is in the States. In the States, if I went on a road trip, I could pack a lunch with a gluten-free sandwich. Here, there are no gluten-free substitutes.

Luckily, because of globalization, being gluten-free isn’t impossible in Africa. Food, such as chips and spices are labeled with their allergen information, including whether or not the product contains gluten, or if it was manufactured in a facility with gluten in it. In addition, my friends and I were able to find gluten-free flour and brownie mix at an upscale “Super-Spar” (a grocery store in Botswana) in Orapa. Orapa is a diamond-mining town that we were able to visit during PST. However, Orapa is a walled-off city and you need a passport and special invitation to get into it, so the likelihood that I will ever find these gluten-free products again is slim.

My apologies if this post is a little long, but it was important to me to share the experience of having Celiac’s. Especially, since when I was first applying to the Peace Corps, I was afraid that I wouldn’t be accepted because of my gluten allergy.  In fact, I almost didn’t apply. However, I did apply. And I was accepted. I share this allergy with millions of other Americans, and maybe there are others who are also afraid it might impact their application for the Peace Corps. They shouldn’t. As a Celiac’s, I might not have been considered for certain countries because of my dietary restrictions, but I was, in fact, accepted into the Peace Corps.

There are four other people in Bots ’14 (the group the Peace Corps Volunteers that came over with me) that cannot eat gluten as well. And I am so grateful they were here with me.  Together, we were able to manage the struggles of being gluten-free together. We were given special gluten-free food baskets to accommodate our dietary restrictions (we didn’t receive any special gluten-free goods, but instead of being given bread or cereal in our food baskets, we were given an extra carton of eggs and another bag of fruit). When there were catered events, we were able to explain together to the caterers our allergy, and figure out what we could and couldn’t eat.

My daily diet usually consists of eating fruits and vegetables, so eating gluten-free in Botswana isn’t that hard for me. However, sometimes it is nice to have something different. And, during PST, my fellow gluten-free friends and I were able to come up with some excellent recipes using ingredients we could find in Botswana, for foods we were able to make in the States.  

Below, I have listed some of the recipes we have cooked and created while here. Please note that because we had no measuring cups in Serowe, a cup of sorghum is literally a cup (technically we used a mug) of sorghum, and a tablespoon of oil is literally a spoon of oil. So if your recipe comes out a little odd, don’t be afraid to experiment. That’s how we learned to make these! Please try to re-create, and enjoy!

Sorghum Pancakes:

2 cups sorghum powder

2 eggs

3 tablespoons of oil

2 tablespoons of sugar

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon baking soda

1.5 cups of milk

Mix all ingredients together and cook like normal pancakes. Eat with peanut butter and sliced bananas (or another fruit) on top. This works well as a very filling breakfast or a nice snack.  If you add vanilla extract, the pancakes don’t stick together very well, and they come out more as a pancake scramble (it resembles granola) and you can eat it like cereal with milk. It is delicious.

Add nutmeg and cinnamon and raisins, and it becomes more like a granola bar. In addition, if you add crushed pineapple and shredded carrots to the nutmeg, cinnamon, and raisins, it makes carrot cake (sort of)! It doesn’t hold together as well, so another egg might be needed, but if you put frosting or jam on top, it is similar!

Banana Pancakes:

1 Banana

2 Eggs

Optional:

1/8 cup of sorghum (this is to thicken the egg and banana mixture); if you don’t have sorghum, add any other type of flour (almond, rice) to thicken the batter

A Dash of Baking Soda (this makes the pancakes fluffy)

Mix all ingredients together and cook like normal pancakes. Eat with peanut butter if maple syrup is not available (which in Botswana, it’s hard to find, and very expensive).

Quiche:

Potatoes (sliced thinly, about ¼ an inch thick)

Red and Green Pepper

1 Onion

Zucchini

Mushrooms

Eggs

Milk

Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Coat the bottom and sides of baking pan with oil, then line with the thinly sliced potatoes. Try to cover all holes with potato slices. Then put the pan in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes (or until the potatoes are baked and not hard anymore). This creates the crust.

Stir-fry the onion first, then add the peppers, next the zucchini, and last the mushrooms. You can add as many vegetables, and as many different types of vegetables as you want. The vegetables listed were just the ones available to us.

Mix the eggs and milk together. The ratio of this should vary depending on how big the pan you are using is. But for an 8x12 pan we used 5 eggs and 2-3 cups of milk.

Take the pan with the potatoes out of the oven. Cover the bottom with the shredded cheese. Add the vegetables. Add the egg and milk mixture. It should fill up to the top of the potato slices on the side. Top off the mixture with more shredded cheese.

Bake for about half an hour (or until the egg/milk mixture is quiche-like). And allow for time to cool. Finally, eat!