African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 168 tableware
Dar es Salaam.

A public canteen.

Newcomers are being taught a grueling lesson.

"Extend your middle finger, bend it slightly, do it like I did, see the upper joint!" Layton pointed to the first joint of the middle finger with his left hand and said to the European immigrants.

"This part is a key, which determines your application of this tableware. Now we will also stick out the index finger and thumb.

Watch how I do it, first place the first bar on the ring finger, then the second on the first knuckle of the middle finger, pinching the top with the thumb and index finger.

It should be noted that the pad of the thumb should also be pressed on the first wooden bar. At this time, the first wooden bar remains still.

The thumb, index finger, and middle finger work together to manipulate the first stick, just like this. If you master this skill, you can basically handle all the food in East Africa. "Leighton said to the German immigrants with chopsticks in his hand.

As he spoke, Layton began to show these immigrants the whole process of using chopsticks, a pottery bowl, which holds rice and dishes.

Layton skillfully held the bowl, picked up the rice and vegetables with chopsticks, and delivered them to his mouth.

"Of course, these can also be done with spoons, but in order to save costs, the East African government only provides chopsticks. If you can't learn to use chopsticks, it will be very inconvenient." Layton said.

Among all the tableware in the world, there is nothing better produced than chopsticks. Even finding two twigs can temporarily replace the role of chopsticks.

As a canteen, the scale is naturally not small, so there is a lot of tableware needed, and the poor and white East African colony does not have the energy to provide these European immigrants with knives, forks and spoons.

In this era, Europeans, especially civilians in Germany, actually mainly used spoons for tableware.

In rural German families, the whole family gathers around the dining table when eating. There is a communal rice bowl, and a pot of mushy wheat rice is boiled. Everyone eats directly from the rice bowl or pot with a spoon.

If it is bread and other food that needs to be divided, use a common knife to divide.

Knives and forks are not very popular in Germany in this era.

In the Middle Ages, Europe was still eating pilaf. The earliest use of forks (double teeth) was the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, around the tenth century.It was quickly introduced to Italy and became an important tableware for eating pasta.

Previously, people used their fingers to grab and eat the spaghetti with juice and water. After eating, they would always lick their fingers that were stained with soup and make an intoxicating sound of sucking.

In order to improve this indecent eating appearance, they chose the dinner fork of the Byzantine Empire - roll the noodles on the fork tines, and then send them into the mouth in a ball.

But the "fork" was opposed by the medieval church. For example, a German missionary in the middle ages directly denounced the fork as "the luxury of the devil" and said, "If God wants us to use this tool, he will not give us it." finger." He reminded everyone to continue the tradition of eating "pilaf".

With the decline of the church, the fork began to spread from Italy to other regions.

It was not until the 17th and 18th centuries that the middle and upper classes in Europe fully accepted the mode of eating with a fork. The French court of the "Sun King" Louis XIV first started the dining mode of holding a knife in one hand and a fork in the other, and produced a large number of silver. At the same time, the French improved the table fork from two teeth to four teeth, and the table fork was basically finalized.

At this time, the fork was still popular in the French upper class, and most ordinary people in Europe continued to eat "pilaf".

It was Napoleon who really promoted the use of knives and forks. France in the Napoleon era was keen to export French culture to the whole of Europe, and the fork also took root in Europe with Napoleon's army.

Knives and forks are already common in German cities, but they have not yet become popular in the countryside. Many rural people still maintain traditional eating habits.

But German commoners were not far behind when it came to dining, at least they used spoons.

It is not difficult to make spoons and forks, but chopsticks are easier to make and easy to clean, so chopsticks are the tableware prepared in East African canteens.

The use of chopsticks in the East African canteen was not decided by Ernst, but the spontaneous choice of the people in charge of the East African canteen.

After all, the person in charge of the East African cafeteria can make up his own mind about such trivial matters as which tableware to use, as long as he does not embezzle funds, every transaction is recorded in the account, and the reason is reported.

The choice of chopsticks in East African cafeterias was mainly inspired by Chinese immigrants, combined with Ernst’s hygienic campaign in East Africa and the low cost of making chopsticks.

If it weren't for Ernst's health policy, it is estimated that the immigrants would not be a big deal to eat finger food now, and even chopsticks could be saved.

In fact, immigrants who eat in the cafeteria can bring their own tableware. It is a dead rule that they are not allowed to eat with their hands directly in the cafeteria, but they can choose what tableware to use, but the East African cafeteria only provides chopsticks.

However, not every European immigrant brings a meal guy with him when he comes to East Africa, there are always unscrupulous and careless guys, and on the way to East Africa, they are basically supplied with dry food, so they don’t need cutlery , As a result, he was blinded when he arrived in East Africa.

The canteens in East Africa adopt a meal-sharing system. It is stipulated that eating in the canteen cannot be done directly to prevent food waste. Immigrants can choose the tableware they bring with them or the tableware provided by the canteen.

The staff in charge of the cafeteria are very satisfied with the use of chopsticks, not to mention reducing the cost, and at the same time meeting the hygienic conditions. As for some European immigrants who are not used to it, there is no way. Anyway, the staff in charge use a complete set of tableware, knives, forks, spoons, etc. Everything is available.

And the vast majority of immigrants who came to East Africa must bring foodies with them, but it is not ruled out that there are some poor immigrants who do not even have a bowl, or immigrants who still retain the habit of "pilaf" in the Middle Ages.

Of course, the canteens that use chopsticks are mainly distributed in the main rice-producing areas such as the eastern coast of East Africa and the Great Lakes region.

The staple foods in canteens in wheat-producing areas are mainly scones, bread, etc., and wheat-producing areas are mainly inland. On the way to the inland areas, immigrants can make their own tableware, and the need for chopsticks is relatively small.

Chopsticks are just a transitional product for most European immigrants who first arrived in East Africa and did not bring a meal companion.

When they have time to build a set of cutlery themselves, or after they leave the cafeteria, they can choose whether to continue to use it.

Of course, it is not ruled out that some people will like chopsticks, and there are many Chinese groups in East Africa, which will also affect some European immigrants.

But European immigrants in turn have a hard time influencing Chinese immigrants to use European tableware. After all, most European immigrants, especially German immigrants, come from rural areas. Their tableware is a spoon, and the spoon is not unique to Germany or Europe. .

This can also be regarded as the advantage of Chinese immigrants in the integration of the two civilizations. After all, the East African policy is biased towards Europe.

(End of this chapter)