Culinary Anthropologist

Aminata pounding millet

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Smaminatapounding0001.JPGToday in the Dogon village of Djiguibombo we learnt how to make – a kind of thick millet porridge which is pretty much the staple food in this part of Mali.  We learnt from an expert: Aminata, who is 15 and has been making the for her whole family since her mother died some years ago.  And we realised how hard work it is: you have to pound the millet into flour by hand in an enormous mortar & pestle.  Just listen to how hard she hits it.

It’s worth listening to this using headphones or proper speakers – on laptop speakers you can’t really hear the bass sounds of the pounding properly.

Click here to listen.

Click here for more audio samples.

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