Chibuku

One of the benefits of living abroad is trying new things.  Botswana happens to have a traditional beer called chibuku. 

I love that it comes in a milk carton.  "Bojalwa jwa rona" means "our beer."

While I don’t know the particulars, it is made from maize and sorghum that has been allowed to ferment.  This results in a uniquely flavored, surprisingly filling alcoholic beverage that I liken to grainy, slightly chunky drinkable yoghurt.

  

See the grainy goodness

I wouldn’t say I’m a huge chibuku fan, but one time Daniel, a fellow volunteer, showed me the ropes of drinking it.  It’s actually quite a process.  The beer’s nickname is “shake shake” because you must shake the box before drinking it.  So, you press your thumb over a valve that is cut into the top of the box (you can see it in the above picture) and press down on the top to prevent leaking, turn the box upside down, and shake for at least 30 seconds.  The box starts to expand as the beer gets nice and foamy.  At this point you turn the box right-side-up and let go of the valve.  You open the box and voila! – chibuku.

Daniel secretly took a video of me while shaking the box (sorry, you have to watch it sideways):

Trying to shake without getting it on my clothes

Post-shaking foam

The first fateful sip

It's chunky!

Daniel is a fan

At 5 Pula a box, many poor people will forgo buying food for themselves and instead fill up by drinking chibuku all day.  Chibuku is sold at family-owned outdoor bars called shebins.  A shebin (she-bean) is typically someone’s house, and people will buy chibuku and then sit on benches in the yard while drinking and socializing.  It’s fair to say that the large majority of patrons at shebins are male.

While chibuku, like other alcoholic drinks around the world, can be a fun aspect to the culture, it also adds to the growing alcoholism problem in the country and, consequently, the HIV epidemic.  On the bright side, shebins offer a perfect place to do outreach.  And who knows, now that I know how to drink it, maybe I will get to know the men at my local shebin and find my future husband.