Filed under: Stories, Africa, Madagascar

We're at a small, roadside cafe - a room that consists of a few wooden planks slung together to form a humble dining area. Our server is a loud, jovial woman in her fifties and seems particularly excited to have a vazaa in her restaurant. She enthusiastically brings out six plates of over-saturated rice and sets them down on a cheap plastic tablecloth. I reach for the aluminum fork in front of me and hang it over the rice as I wait for the others to dig in.

Nobody moves. They're all waiting for the side dishes of chicken, fish, and shredded pork to be brought - and not one person starts eating until every last plate has been set down. It seems particularly strange because the rice is presented almost as soon as we are seated, and the side plates arrive one by one over the course of fifteen minutes.

I guess I've lived for so long in a culture where everyone rushes to eat every meal, that it's sort of refreshing to sit back and let the food get lukewarm for the sake of good manners.

Continue reading East of Africa: An island divided

East of Africa: An island divided originally appeared on Gadling on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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