Time for street corn on the cob

Fantu Debele, a mother of four small children, has been preparing the corn for half a day and is about to carry it to a street near to her village, Cazainchis.
She bought a sack of corn (corn on the cob) for 150 birr from the market, where many gather to bargain with the wholesalers, helped by the brokers who mediate. This is her main business and the way she provides for her four children, for whom she cares alone after her husband died six years ago.

“I rise from bed early in the morning and cook breakfast for the kids, then leave for the market. I spend the whole day making up the corn, which I aim to get ready before six,” she says. She has been doing it for four years and predicts it would have been successful if she had had enough money and someone to help her. “The most difficult part of the job is purchasing the corn on the cob from the market and breaking it down so that the pot can hold it up to its brim,” she says.

Many Ethiopians endure the cold winters by sipping hot drinks or wearing overcoats and scarves, any way to generate warmth. Eating hot food like boiled corn on the cob is also popular. Corn can be prepared by either boiling or roasting over a fire. As one of the most common cereals in the country, it can also be mixed with other foods. In fact, maize (corn) is widely known as the source of every food in Africa. It is important for Ethiopians, who prepare their multifaceted edible dishes and brew local beverages such as tela and areke.

Corn can be served at breakfast in a coffee ceremony, and can also be powdered to bake kitta, a slim bread that many low-income households eat throughout the country. Ethiopian cuisine offers various products made of whole grains, including teff, the most common daily meal.  A game many Ethiopians played during their childhood, Buhe, is a popular one that involves a special bread called yebuhe dabo, and eshet, corn roasted over coal-fire. “We used to eat it while playing hoya hoye, along with the tradition of lighting up a torch to endure the winter,” recalls Mussie Gebremairiam.

When people flock to the cities in pursuit of a better life, they are likely to miss out what they had in their childhood. Eshet is a good example of this, according to Mussie. Cities rarely grow eshet and other cereals that are common in the countryside, making people yearn for the winter or the arrival of Kiremt, especially those with no family, who find purchasing eshet from the streets as a blessing. It can be expensive and difficult to set fire to the charcoal, nevertheless, many households can buy corn from the street vendors and boil it at home. A single corn can either be boiled or roasted, selling for around four to five birr depending on the size.

Many people are aware of the dangers of eating corn from the street due to the insanitary conditions experienced in the preparation. Except for those who use a fork or glove to pick up the boiled corn from the steam jars, many use their dirty hands, especially on the ashy-cooking pans that use charcoal. “It is full of risk,” says Mesfine Tadele, a physician. “When you look at the street markets,” the vendors can take money that has been stained with toxic substances in pockets. Moreover, the ashes blowing over the charcoal stove can damage one’s health. Buyers are also hardly taking care, as they seize it with unwashed hands and put it in their mouths.

Wassie Emiru, a daily laborer, told The Reporter that he doesn’t even think of the danger when he buys corn from the street. Sometimes he might use his fingers to blanch the seeds off the cob, when walking with friends. He buys it daily as part of his dinner, just like a dessert. He chews it with friends who might join him as he heads home, or he eats alone as he slowly strides towards his house. Beyond its heat generating power, he bought it in his childhood and it reminds him of his village.

Fantu and many of her friends seem to be enjoying the profit they make from selling corn on the streets, except that the price is surging sharply. Every year it increases by at least two to three hundred birr, according to them. They sometimes find it difficult to sell a single corn for even five birr. It may cost them more than they think is profitable. Charcoal, the main production material they require, has seen a significant increase in its price over the last couple of years. Nevertheless, it is still one of the most viable businesses for poor women. It is not a job solely for women, men also do it, particularly corn cooked over a fire. Women prefer to prepare it in a big pot of boiling water.

Corn, widely referred to as a native crop of America after Christopher Columbus first discovered it in Cuba, is very familiar in Africa. In Ethiopia it would find importance as a way to resist the rainy season. However, physicians are warning people to prepare it indoors to prevent the germs that cause abdominal infections.

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