Office Katogo*
He has a plastic fork in his hand
Gripped between two fingers and thumb.
Like a pelican, the fork dives into a red dish.
When it comes back up,
A piece of matooke is impaled on its tip.
His eager lips collect the harvest with one bite.
The fork goes back in to swim in the gravy.
Another piece of matooke drips with slick juices
As it balances tantalizingly on its way up.
He looks up.
I shift my gaze to the window above him.
“It is raining outside,” I manage to say.
“Do you want some?”
“Some what?”
He pulls out a fork from his drawer
And starts to hand me the dish.
“Ah...No, boss. I just had lunch.”
He rewards my discretion with an oily smile.
*Katogo is a meal of matooke (cooked green bananas)* in a rich relish of meat or offals or beans or peanut sauce. The word is also commonly used to describe a confusing or disorganised situation.
*Is there an easier way to translate 'matooke'?
He has a plastic fork in his hand
Gripped between two fingers and thumb.
Like a pelican, the fork dives into a red dish.
When it comes back up,
A piece of matooke is impaled on its tip.
His eager lips collect the harvest with one bite.
The fork goes back in to swim in the gravy.
Another piece of matooke drips with slick juices
As it balances tantalizingly on its way up.
He looks up.
I shift my gaze to the window above him.
“It is raining outside,” I manage to say.
“Do you want some?”
“Some what?”
He pulls out a fork from his drawer
And starts to hand me the dish.
“Ah...No, boss. I just had lunch.”
He rewards my discretion with an oily smile.
*Katogo is a meal of matooke (cooked green bananas)* in a rich relish of meat or offals or beans or peanut sauce. The word is also commonly used to describe a confusing or disorganised situation.
*Is there an easier way to translate 'matooke'?
10 comments:
it stays matooke, thats the only way you can capture the description. but meantime that katogo plate looks sumptuous as if
interesting, hadnt actually thought about it.
Unfortunately i am not one of those people who go GAGA over katogo especially the Aw-ful ones (offals) as we refer to them.
I do conceed that it comes in handy when you are really hungry and stranded in some side road town where the fastest thing is katogo :-) it always seems to be on some invisible tap...
the ability to take something as random as katogo and write about it so nicely was given only to the lucky few!
I can just imagine that office encounter, lol!
Neyvar to eat Katogo again! You just put me off it.
that is it. no Katogo for me.
Cosign Scotchie.
katogo, no thank you!
Damn u Minty, now I miss the katgo of matooke and byenda from Tipsy takeaway in wandegs....
Bad manners
I want matooke! :-(
*Beautifully writ!
Post a Comment