Food, glorious food

Food preferences and habits can often be taken as indicators of nationality, culture and class.  
In England, food boundaries are becoming blurred, especially in the takeaway sector, where the potential consumer is offered a wide range of styles and nationalities of food. This is sometimes only eaten in takeaway or restaurant form; rarely cooked at home and adopted as part of the family dishes, except of course, by those ethnic groups to whom that food 'belongs' or keen cooks and foodies, eager to add a new dish to their repertoire.
There's little difference here in Zambia, as witnessed by the variety of restaurants and takeaways in an up-market shopping mall such as Manda Hill, Arcades or Levy Junction.  Indian, Asian, Chinese, Steak House, Pizza, Fried Chicken restaurants, many of whom are international brand names, jostle with ice cream parlours and cake and coffee bars..
Here though, there is maybe a bigger divide between the 'luxury' foods and the everyday meals eaten by most of the population.  
At home, most people eat the national staple food, nshima, a stiff porridge made from mealie meal, served with 'relish' which could be any combination of vegetables, eggs, meat, or fish, my favourite being cibwawa, pumpkin leaves with pounded groundnuts.  
Nshima doesn't seem to be served at Manda Hill, an interesting divide between the home foods and the restaurant and takeaway foods.  Potatoes, rice and bread are sometimes eaten at home though the staple nshima is the 'food' without which a Zambian will say "I haven't eaten" despite having put away steak (usually referred to as T bone) with chips, vegetables, bread and ice cream!
Bon appetite