One of the first things that the volunteers do with their entrepreneurs is the ‘marshmallow challenge’ (in which they learn to embrace failure and to put their customer (marshmallow) at the centre of their business). So yesterday I’ve been distributing marshmallows…and yesterday evening I introduced my host family to marshmallow toasting. We all crowded into the little dark outhouse that is a kitchen, even the men (although they didn’t pass the threshold by too far - men don't do kitchens here!) and toasted them on forks over the charcoal stove. While I was very pleased with the toasting, these guys hadn’t ever tasted a raw marshmallow before, so they didn’t fully appreciate the beautiful transformation that occurs when the foamy sweet turns soft, hot and gooey with that sugar crisp shell. My host sisters kept trying to store the finished article in a mug, which doesn’t work; if you eat cold toasted marshmallow it just tastes like burnt caramel. Nevertheless, it brought the whole family together which was lovely. I’ve been asked to save a little bit of marshmallow for the youngest child who wasn’t present, which I’ve taken to be a very good sign.
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