When the first rays of sun illuminate the windows of the house, Puaranì and Fatima are already in the kitchen preparing breakfast for the whole family. They are both in a squat position, in the exact same one we left them last night. They are kneading some Paratha balls and we can’t wait to eat them. Maybe what we are really not ready for at 8 a.m. is the pile of spicy spices already crushed with Patta and Puta, the rectangular and cylindrical stones that together serve to crush the spices. But we are guests, refusing the meal would be a great dishonour and a lack of respect from us.
While the two women continue to cook, Abul goes in search of the sweetest fruit on the papaya tree behind the house and the kitchen fills up with women from the entire village, ready to watch two white people eating a spicy breakfast.

The preparation of a meal is a fairly long process, the rice and vegetables are washed in the pond, where the villagers wash themselves, their laundry and the food. The utensils are few and one in particular attracts our attention. It is a knife with a curved blade, placed on the ground and is used sitting on a small stool in front of the knife. The risk of getting hurt very badly is high: you can cut your fingers or slip on it. Peeling and cutting food with this tool takes a lot of time, as well as a good skill for using it. The cooking takes place inside large pots and pans on open fires and the kitchen is often a very improvised place outside the house.

Again because we are guests, my offer to help in the kitchen is mocked and kindly declined: why should a guest work and help out? Woe betide to even bring your dish back into the kitchen at the end of the meal. The guest is required to be served and revered, we try to explain to the family that the situation is quite strange for us, but on a second thought, we are not so different at the end of the day. When someone comes to visit us, they are immediately put at the table, a table set with delicious food.
Because after all, the world is the same wherever you go and food is the easiest and most effective way to show affection, welcome and attention.