Assimilation Proves Difficult Over the Holidays
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Chicago, IL – The months of November and December are a true litmus test for immigrant Africans’ progress, as far as assimilation is concerned, in their host countries. These two months host the biggest Western holidays: Thanksgiving (in the US), and Christmas . While most western families were engulfing massive amounts of roasted turkey, cranberry sauce and stuffing, about 78% of the Africans we surveyed were eating yam, pepper soup and chicken over the winter holidays.
What was the reason? The same one for which the average Gambian uses the dishwasher as a drying rack. Africans just have a problem adjusting to Western norms and technology.
“I am not ashamed of my behavior at all,” says Erica Adu, a Chicago resident. “I mean, my roommate, a white girl, leaves the water running to thaw her meat or when she’s brushing her teeth. I am always RIGHT behind her, shouting on her, and closing the water.”
Though her anger and reaction to waste seems a little extreme, it is easily explained. Erica, like many African girls, spent her youth fetching water in buckets for her family. Watching water go unused down the drain is like watching hours of her life go down the sewer.
“And that dishwasher…eh?! It uses SO much water, but it never cleans the dishes completely,” she complains. A plastic bowl stained with palm oil is a tell-all. “So what I do is that I wash the dishes in the sink and then use it to dry them. I wish I had this back home. It gives me more counter space to grind my pepper and things.”
Overall, it seems that Africans are just not eager to embrace the norms of Western holiday cuisine. Mary Tumbo sums it up thus:
“Let’s just be clear. Seasoned bread (stuffing) is just not as tasty as ugali.”
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