Thou shall not eat…
Who knew food could bring so much strife in communities?
Well, Luhya elders now attribute the rising marital woes among couples in western Kenya to eating forbidden parts of chicken.
They also claim single parenthood is also likely to be on the rise if women fail to adhere to the community’s food code.
One part they say has been greatly abused is imondo (gizzard),which according to Luhya culture, is sacred and is always reserved for the head of the home or a male elder at a specific gathering.
Elders’ staple
Mzee Eliashon Asava, 86, a Maragoli elder, now says women have been scrambling for imondo instead of leaving it for their husbands.
“It has now become a norm for Luhya women to eat what is meant for the elders. This is very risky, which is why we are solving domestic squabbles on a weekly basis,” he says.
The woman should serve the gizzard to her brother or husband. “But now you see them also salivating for it,” he adds.
Asava also says the imondo is a symbolic part of the chicken and should not be cut into pieces, but served as whole.
“It’s against our culture for someone to cut it. If it is cut, it will bring bad omen as per our tradition,” he adds.
Even blood brothers are not allowed to share imondo because it is believed that it will create a major disagreement between them.
“Whenever we are solving cases of conflict amongst brothers, the first thing we ask is ‘valaranga imondo (did you share the gizzard)?’ because sharing it definitely leads to conflict,” he explains. The part is forbidden to all the Luhya sub-tribes.
“If you want problems in your homes as Luhyas then let women eat imondo. The problems won’t end,” he cautions.
The Luhya are not the only community in Kenya with food taboos. Among the Kalenjin, animal organs including tongue, heart, udder and male reproductive organs are a preserve of men, barren and menopausal women.
The belief is that it would interfere with the reproductive cycle of any child-bearing woman or have severe impact on babies born of mothers who go against this rule.
Benard Orwongo’s grandmother died without tasting chicken her whole life. “She was a keen observer of Kisii tradition that prohibited women from eating chicken.
She’d be really annoyed if you even thought of giving her a piece of poultry,” he says.
Chicken was meant for men as it was seen to be too small to be shared between man and wife.
It was also considered disrespectful for a woman’s family to serve chicken to their in-laws. The food of choice in such scenarios was as well-prepared goat meat.
Although eventually, women were allowed to eat chicken, they were forbidden from eating the gizzard. Prohibition in the Kisii community did not end with women.
Children were not allowed to consume tripe. “It was believed that tripe would make children lazy and rude.
They were also not supposed to eat animal tongue because they would talk to much or talk back to adults,” Orwongo adds.
Flapping wings
For the Kamba, when a goat is slaughtered, the tongue is meant only for the head of the homestead and in some rare cases, an elderly woman.
The main taboo, according to Dickson Masoo, a city dweller, is that unmarried women were prohibited from consuming goat legs.
“If they ate it, they would end all their chances of getting married,” he adds.
Among the Mijikenda, women are forbidden from eating chicken wings as it makes them disobedient, according to Mzee Kazungu Charo.
“By eating chicken wings, they adopt the behaviour of flapping their arms about like chicken, which means they become disobedient,” he says.
Charo also adds that with such behaviour, women run the risk of being rejected by their husbands or potential suitors.
“If one makes such mistake, she is sent back to her parents’ home for month. Upon return to her husband’s compound, she must carry a whole chicken,” he adds.
Mijikenda women are also not allowed to consume gizzards or goat testicles.
The deviation from the norm would be the Kikuyu community, which did not explicitly prohibit any food, but rather had a sort of pecking order on who should eat what according to their status.
For example, during a celebratory goat-eating function, specific parts of the goat would be given to specific individuals; there was even meat set aside for passers-by, just to ensure there is no conflict over food.
Anyone who violated the code would be considered a glutton and treated as a pariah.
Food taboos are prominent in Africa, with most linked to gender and patriarchal control, says Dr Gladys Nyachieo.
“The best part of the food, especially from animals, were a preserve of men since they were ‘superior’,” she adds, giving an example of the Abagusii community where women were prohibited from eating eggs.
She adds that although times have changed, some communities still respect some taboos. “They are still relevant in rural settings where men are still cultural bosses.
Since women are now liberated and food is commercialised, they can get into a hotel and ask for whatever they want to eat. However, in homes, the king (read father) still has to eat the gizzard,” she concludes. - Baraka Karama and Nduta Waweru
