Gursha, Ethiopians Message Of Kindness And Love
You remember the famous quote from Peter Drucker that goes ‘culture eats strategy for breakfast, if not for lunch or dinner’. What about the saying ‘Culture is the glue that holds organizations, countries, or societies together’.
Well, every country has its own peculiar cultural lineage that keeps its constituents feel connected. Deeply rooted to its age old religious, cultural, historical and societal dimensions which was in a way kept secret to the other world, Ethiopia has its own taste of cultures and traditions which you may not find in other places. In fact, Land of Origins was coined for such and many other host of reasons.
One of the peculiar tradition in Ethiopia is Gursha, hand full of food bite that you eat at a time. As a tradition, most Ethiopian based (cultural) dishes are served with (usually) Mesob and are meant to be handpicked by fingers. Spoons or forks have not been common nor convenient.
As much as some people’s (western) perception that Africa is a country is wrong, so does Ethiopia has a monolithic or singular culture. 80 plus of the ethnicities in Ethiopia have their own version of related or completely different cuisines and cultural perspectives. Sharing or (eating at) the same table is, however, one of the widely common cultural phenomena in most Ethiopian ethnicities and it is regarded as a sign of kindness and love. It is common to see hand full of food bites/boxes crisscrossed in a table often accompanied with words of love and appreciation.
Notably, I am not personally a fun to the one that comes at a time when you think you are full unless you anticipate and leave some space for the unexpected.
Due to the influence of the western culture, you may not usually experienced Gursha in towns and big cities recently. Yet, it is still widely practiced out of towns throughout households and communities in the country.
It is common to see strange expressions on the faces of foreign travelers who happened to be in Ethiopia for a first time when they are faced with dishes shared among a group of people. The reaction becomes even more interesting when someone throw Gursha directly in to their mouths. Strange, right? Some people even got offended as well until they learn the full context.
A colleague of mine, who happened to be in Ethiopia for a project assignment and whom I can write a book out of his experiences in Ethiopia, had to pass through the same experience.
For the first few days, he was shocked to see people gathered to eat at a single table let alone to expect Gursha. As time went by and very slowly, he started to go out with Ethiopian friends for coffee and lunch and tried some bites. Believe it or not, after six months, he started to skip some of his lunches. Why? He got used to have a couple of Gurshas’s from the lunch boxes of his Ethiopian colleagues brought from home and he needed no more. He was honest to tell me how much he felt happier and belonging. The friendly, honest and funnier discussions that goes along sharing the food was just more than eating breakfast, lunch or dinner for him.
As COVID-19 pandemic is over, we know you will travel to Ethiopia to learn about nature, culture, history, and your own roots. By the time you arrive in Ethiopia, just try to share a single dish among your friends and have a handfull of Gurhsas’ before you leave and I guaranty you that it will most likely be one of the strangest memories you will carry in your life time. After all Gursha is a message of kindness and love that Ethiopians send across to those who earn their respect for generations
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