At the annual Chinese New Year Celebration at the International House in January 2002, President Myers approached me while I was busy dishing out egg drop soup. His eyes were dancing with curiosity as he darted over to ask if I was serving an African version of the dish, a query to which I luckily had a reply that seemed to adequately capture his imagination. I explained to him that at the turn of the 20th century, when the German=20= colonizers in the territory then known as Tanganyika were ready to build the East African Railway, they imported hundreds of Chinese laborers to help. Since then, a small Chinese African community has developed in and around the Tanzanian capital, Dar es Salaam, where African egg drop soup (perhaps similar to the one I was serving) can be found to this day.

I could almost hear President Myers making a mental note to follow up on this multicultural soup phenomenon, and to tease me about it at the next faculty event, which indeed he did. Whenever the two of us crossed paths after that, President Myers had an interesting example of cross-cultural cuisine to share with me. And one day last fall, he sent me a hard copy of a list of the hundreds of food-related books in his personal collection with a handwritten note suggesting titles that might be appropriate source materials for Chuck Springwood’s anthropology of food course.

I am privileged to have known Minor Myers, a person who found no common interest between two people to be trivial; indeed he finessed meaningful personal connections with anyone willing to join him in exploring the latitudes of a given topic. In memory of the curiosity and joy and imagination that President Myers inspired in us, I have mustered the hint of culinary ingenuity I have to create my own version of "African egg drop soup." For those adventurous enough to try it, here is the recipe:

*2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 medium onion (a yellow onion or a salad onion), minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons fresh ginger, grated
1/2 teaspoon jalapeno pepper, diced
2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
1/2 teaspoon cumin
** 1 teaspoon orange, ginger, pepper blend
6 cups water
*1 cup lite coconut milk
*6 tablespoons Memmi noodle soup base
*1 cup dried shitake mushrooms, chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 cup fresh spinach, chopped
4 eggs, beaten
Salt to taste

Heat oil in a large saucepan
Add onion, garlic, ginger, pepper blend, cilantro and saut=E9 over =
Medium heat until onion is golden.
Stir in water, coconut milk, soup base, mushrooms, pepper blend, and=20
spinach.
Bring to a simmer, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.
Right before serving, pour eggs into the soup in a thin, steady stream.
Remove from the heat and serve immediately.
You may add fresh cilantro garnish in individual soup bowls.
Makes 6 hearty servings.

* Items available at The Oriental Food Store.
* * This spice blend is by Spice Hunter and is available at The World=20
Market.

Rebecca Gearhart
July 25, 2003