140710
Today I got to try a local specialty, Sphatlo. The
every man’s solution to hunger, the Sphatlo is a sandwich that is more or less
the size of my head. Filled with sausage, potato fries, and acho (pickled
mango), it is topped off with a fried egg, cheese, tomato, lettuce and a
slathering of tomato sauce (ketchup). Not living up to my adventurous spirit I declined on the acho, being afraid if I didn't like it it would ruin my experience with the sandwich I had heard so much about. I was told before hand by my roommate
Akeem that I would need to prepare time to take a nap afterward. I scoffed at this
notion, as I have been a guy known for putting away some food when the job
needed to be done. Akeem would later prove to be right as I had to sleep for
two hours after the massive sandwich. As it turns out it is a running joke in South Africa that one should not eat Sphatlo if there are still productive things needed to be done in the day. But back at Supi Trading where we were
waiting on our meal, Akeem and I conversed over how cheap this was. This giant
sandwich was being made in a little corner storefront in Mamelodi for a
whopping 10 Rand, so $1. Cold drinks in the fridge were for 7 Rand and so with
smiles after talking to the kind store owners we went back to the car with what
was surely a days calories for a mere $1.70.
No comments:
Post a Comment