Habit seems to be able to render any type of grain sufficiently wholesome; but the stomach is unable, without inconvenience, to bear a change…hence the laborer becomes disordered when first compelled or induced to try another food.
-A Journey from Madras, Frances Buchanan, 1807
My introduction to aseeda was in Hajj Bashir’s market stall in El Obeid. Ha, Ha, Luwīs, he said, This is the only food you will eat for the next forty days. Do you like it? Hajj Bashir’s recipe, suited for an old man with a delicate stomach, was with boiled milk and bleached wheat flour, and it made me almost gag on my slimy first bite. Once on the trail it got better, for the cook Adam Hāmid made it as it is always made on the Darb, with water, millet flour, and a peppery Milāh sauce poured on top. In fact I learned to like it, fuel served at our desert fire.