Omena

The women grow maize, beans, peas and sorghum, and are particularly happy with weaning foods taught by the Agricultural Extension staff because these foods are within their reach physically and economically: maize and bean flour, sorghum and pea flour, or flour from maize and omena (the omena fish is easily gotten from Lake Victoria).

Well dried tiny fish (omena) can be mixed with grain such as maize or millet and milled into flour. The flour should be prepared in amounts which should not be kept for longer than 2 weeks since it is likely to go bad. The dried omena can also be prepared into powder separately and this can be added in spoonfuls to the food during preparation.

However local people recognize that the omena should preferably be eaten shortly after drying. They report that if the omena becomes too old the taste becomes bitter, so they tend to purchase omena only in the quantities which can be used up quickly.