Cuisine Of the African Congo

I was very excited to see we were going to be blogging about cuisine because I believe food plays a significant role in a societies culture, and who doesn't love food.  The Democratic Republic of the Congo's cuisine varies widely throughout the region.  The main food is Cassava, which is one of the many forms of food of the indigenous people, where Cassava is the most well known food that is usually served with a variety of side dishes.  The Congo, despite its large size, only has about 2% of its land cultivated and readily available to be farmed on, where the Congo's farmland is the main source of food and provides a wide variety of crops.  Some of the crops include maize, rice, cassava, sweet potatoes, yam, tomatoes, pumpkin, as well as various peas and nuts.  These are the staple foods of the Congo, although there are other foods that vary depending on the region.
Cassava is the most wide known dish of the Congo is a dish that involves Cassava leaves and is served is the form of stew.  The starchy paste comes from the Cassava plant and flower, and is combined with fur (a form of beef) and the fufu combination is rolled into golf sized balls and then dipped into a spicy stew.  This meal is often served with a fermented bread, kwanga, made from cassava.

                                                                   
Sources:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congolese_cuisine
http://www.congocookbook.com/
http://www.everyculture.com/Bo-Co/Republic-of-Congo.html#b

Tourism in the Congo, Africa Diaspora

The Congo is one of the most mysterious places in Africa simply because of its harsh terrain, large size, and dark rain forests.  This country would be more suited for an explorer than a tourist, which makes it a poor location for tourism and hardly considered a tourist destination.  Not only is the terrain harsh and unforgiving, but a lot of the cites and outskirts are unsafe areas, certainly not fit for tourist sight seeing.

Among some of the safer spots is the capital city of Kinshasa, where this city offers modern hotels, basic tourists information and activities, and beautiful views.  The number of traditional tourist attractions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is limited, but one of them is located in the heart of the capital city.  In Kinshasa, the central market place (also called Marche Central) is a busy place to buy some souvenirs, take in the sights, and get a taste of the local culture.  In addition to this market place, the Symphonies Naturelles forest is filled with the interesting African wild life that tourists will be able to see if lucky.

To sum up the tourism that takes place in the Congo, it is virtually non existent to the economy and unimportant to the local people.  The fact is, this place, despite its massive size, beautiful landscape, and large cities, is just not at the point where tourism can take place.  The country is riddled with violence, possible disease to outsiders due to poor sanitization, the very government in place is more corrupt than anything, tourism may not become a part of this country until years down the road.  When the government shapes up, the violence stops, and the buzz in the cities dies down, the Congo can be a great place for tourism that would help boost the national income, create local jobs, and be a good way to spread the vast culture.

Sources:

http://www.democratic-republic-of-the-congo.world-guides.com/democratic_congo_kinshasa.html

http://www.democratic-republic-of-the-congo.world-guides.com/

Economy, Africa in Diaspora

The chaotic nature of the Republic of the Congo has produced an even more unsettling economy.  The economy that has developed is an interesting mix between the primal mixture of village handicrafts and agriculture and the more modern developments of industry largely based on oil (petroleum) extraction, all of which stem from a government characterized by widespread hatred, budget problems, and severe overstaffing.  Recently the boom in demand for petroleum has become substantially the countries most profitable revenue source since the late 1980s.  The exponential growing oil revenue stream enabled the government to finance a large scale development project, one that was able to produce a 5% increase in GDP of the Congo per year.  This was a substantial  increase, but it also came with government shortages in revenues as they mortgaged a good portion of the earnings.  Recently, new oil fields were discovered under various oil fields, which has lead to the Congo's oil production being projected to continue to grow significantly in the next few years.

The rest of the Congo's economy is centered around the sale of the other natural resources such as the countries abundant rain forests serving as a source of timber.  The forest industry was prevalent and prosperous until recent years where high transport costs, high wages, and poor productivity have lead to the decline of the timber industry.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_Republic_of_the_Congo
http://www.africaneconomicoutlook.org/en/countries/central-africa/congo-republic/

Government, Africa in Diaspora

Despite the Democratic Republic of Congo being as large as the United States territory east of the Mississippi, the Congo stands as one of the poorest, most erratic nations in Africa, as years of political and social unrest have left outskirts of the country living in severe third world conditions.  In these outer parts, things such as law, order, electricity, and medicine and hygiene are nonexistent.  A country such as the Congo has looked to the government, or lack thereof, for answers to these problems.  Often times, the government is the source of the problem.  Mass rape has been a tactic practiced by the government, where government forces and the militias that hold power in the stretches of the country have accounted for untold killings and rapes.  Since the early 2000's, the Congo has turned to a president to govern the country.  Since 2001, the Congo has been ruled by President Kabila, who has often had to fight to stay in power, which shows the chaotic nature of the Congo.  In recent months, Joseph Kabila has engaged in a struggle to hold the presidency as Kabila is widely unpopular in the country, especially in the countries capital Kinshasa, one of the poorest slums.
In 2011 President Kabila was declared the winner of the recent election with about 50% of the 18.14 million votes cast.  Justly or not, Kabila was the expected winner.  The election was also just another reminder of how much of a struggle keeping the government in place is, as polling stations were burned to the ground, violence erupted at many, and many poll workers were assaulted just for working the booths.  It is because of this it is hard to tell who truly won the election, as ballots were burned along with the polling stations, so the votes disappeared in the ashes.  Ballots were also lost and tampered with, which made the tallying centers look like war zones.
In the end, a place such as the Congo seems to take one step forward and two steps back.  The very government that was put in place to unify the country and protect the peoples is one of the worst offenders .  It seems every step the government takes results in violence and killings, as social unrest in the poor slums only leads to more violence.

Article:
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/congothedemocraticrepublicof/index.html

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_the_Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13283212

history, Africa in Diaspora

The Congo has certainly seen its share of adversity.  First marked by French Colonization, the Congo has since been through a transition to independence then most recently to a market based economy.  Politics after the independence were incredibly unstable, and it seemed every turn the Congo made lead to the government being more radical.  The slave trade in the 1500's was detrimental to the Congo's people, as the demand for slaves was so high.  Entire populations were diminished, and depopulation occurred across the entire Congo.  This was such a shame to the culture, as the Congo stood as a centerpiece of the African Diaspora.  Cultural diffusion was abundant due to the center location of the Congo in Africa, so the coming together of cultures, languages, traditions, and ways of life began to form a culturally diverse society.  Slavery took its toll, as it was estimated about 350,000 people were taken from the region.
Since then, the Congo has gone through political disputes, debates over the harvesting of oil, and uprisings and rebellions.  Today, the Congo has recently had a an election and a new constitution set in place.  The most recent election took place in 2009, as one of five candidates will be selected to serve for the seven year term.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congo

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107427.html

http://www.africaguide.com/country/congo/

Welcome

first post