Rice Paddies in TZ

I've mentioned it before, but it's a favorite walk, so I mention it again! Right behind my house, this path divides the airport field from farming area... a rural feel though we're close to town. Farmers grow corn, cassava, and rice. The rice is what you see all green in the mid-ground.

It surprised me at first to see rice growing here, because I think of rice paddies as something in Asia. But Tanzanian cuisine includes rice, I think introduced by Indian immigrants, and Tanzanians often prefer the flavor and aroma of TZ-grown rice. It's interesting, because the climate isn't exactly what traditional rice farming requires, water scarcity being the biggest challenge. But some farmers in Tanzania have explored and adopted methods that don't require the ongoing flooding of paddies.

Another interesting TZ rice fact. Kind of like rain in Washington State, rice is important enough to hold multiple names. If you're growing a rice plant it's called "mpunga." If you're handling uncooked rice it's "mchele." If you've cooked the rice it's "wali." So you can't go to a restaurant and ask for mpunga or mchele. That would be weird.