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Sierra Leone’s “food stalls” are more than snack stalls for many, they offer the only affordable meal of the day.
Jariatu Kargbo carries a wooden spoon longer than his arm into a vat of rice as he waits patiently for his turn to buy lunch on the side of a busy road.
The 38-year-old widow runs a stall called ‘Cooking’, the cheapest option for many Sierra Leoneans to get their only meal of the day.
In this impoverished West African state, cooking is an important part of the economy and a social safety net.
But important institutions are under pressure from a brutal external force: inflation.
“Prices of staple food items like rice, cooking oil, onions, sugar and flour have quadrupled,” said Kargbo, the smell of boiled beans wafting from behind her.
Restaurants in the capital, Freetown, sell rice and stews for a fraction of restaurant prices.
“The majority of these are women and are like the backbone of the city in terms of maintaining food, because many people … do not have the facilities to cook at home.”, Researcher Jamie Hitchen said.
However, food is trucked in from the countryside or imported from abroad, as there is no urban agriculture in the densely populated metropolises.
It has become painfully expensive since the Covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine sent global inflation skyrocketing.
As of November, the most recent month on record, Sierra Leone’s inflation was up 35% year-on-year.
“In 2021, I used to buy a bowl of rice for 1,500 leon ($0.08), but now it’s 3,500 leon,” she said, adding that after her husband died of Ebola in 2014, she left the business to support her six children. Kagbo, who started the
Sierra Leone slashed its currency by three zeros in July in hopes of restoring confidence in the inflation-hit leon. Many, including Kargbo, still offer prices in old denominations.
– Riot –
In August, riots erupted in the Shell Old Road Junction area, where Kargbo lives and works, over the rising cost of living.
Twenty-seven civilians and six police officers were killed.
Kargbo’s customers consist primarily of motorbike taxi drivers known as ‘Okada’ men, hawkers and sometimes office workers.
“My family relies on cooking dinner on weekdays. Due to the rising cost of living, we only cook at home on weekends.”said Francis Koroma, a teacher who had two plastic bowls for a family of five.
Cooking meals are often more affordable than buying products from the market. But the stalls had to raise their prices.
Kargbo sells rice with potato leaf sauce or groundnut soup for 5,000 leon to 8,000 leon (43 US cents) in 2021.
Market vendors aren’t that profitable either.
“slow sales”, Haja Marie Bob Kande, President of the Sierra Leone Market Women’s Association, said: “People are now prioritizing what (should) be spent that day because of inflation.”
She said sellers were concerned about the cost of fresh vegetables with short shelf life and instead focused on selling basic meal ingredients such as rice and sauces.
– fuel price –
In a large galley in the more affluent Hillcott Road area, Fatmata Bangla, 48, sits on a low wooden bench while her daughter Isata Dumbuya and four employees stir onions while cooking ‘kaw kanda’ ( cow skin) is chopped. Plantains, cabbage and beans in large metal pots over wood and coal fire.
They are awake at 3:30 a.m. when Dambuya, 32, leaves for the market each day.
By 6:00 a.m., she reaches a roadside store and begins cooking the day’s meals. She makes cassava leaves, beans, or a ‘tiger’ stew for breakfast, and often makes ‘craincrain’ (a local dish made with okra) for lunch.
Their business is stable, but their bottom line is still taking a hit.
“Palm oil used to sell for 200,000 leon, now it is 585,000 leon”, Dambuya said. “Rice, I used to buy it for 280,000, but now it’s 550,000.”
But there is a limit to how much of an increase in costs can be passed on to customers, according to stall owners.
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