By Melissa Schmitt - WASHINGTON — Teff. Most people haven’t heard of this nutrient-packed grain grown in the highlands of East Africa, but if you’ve ever dined in an Ethiopian restaurant, you’ve eaten it.
And if you want to eat it again, it’s going to cost you.
Teff is the main ingredient of injera, the sour flatbread that is a symbol of Ethiopian hospitality, and as ubiquitous as Americans’ morning coffee.
But teff is becoming increasingly scarce as the global food crisis expands. According to Eyob Tolina, the economic officer at the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington, his government stopped exporting teff and corn two months ago, an attempt to stabilize prices back home.
That means less injera bread at higher prices for the sizeable Washington-area Ethiopian population.
“At home, injera is a big, big traditional food,” said Fikru Teka, the owner of Woder Ethiopia, a market and bakery in Silver Spring, Md., that makes and distributes injera. “You have to have injera.”
Injera is the centerpiece of communal Ethiopian dining –entrees are often served on platters atop the pancake-shaped bread. Diners then gather around and break off pieces of injera, using it instead of cutlery.
The halt in exports worries some Ethiopian bakers and market owners, who are watching their supplies of injera and other Ethiopian goods diminish as they are forced to raise prices.
“We don’t have anything right now,” lamented Aki Yagar, who co-owns the Nile Market in Silver Spring, with her husband, Mani Kebede. “It’s going to be harder to get anything in the future.”
Yagar and Kebede estimate that 80 percent of their inventory comes directly from Ethiopia. They used to sell injera, which they order from local Ethiopian bakeries, for $5 per bag, but have been forced to increase the price by a dollar over the last six months.
And their customers are angry and suspicious.
“They complain about it every time,” said Kebede. “They don’t trust you, they think you are just adding to the price.”
Kebede and Yagar blame the halt in exports for the rising cost of injera and other baked goods in their store. They say their distributors have had to pay a premium on teff and some are even mixing in other types of flour to cut costs.
Distributors are delivering less injera — one injera maker is dropping off three bags instead of the normal 10 to the Nile Market every day..
At Woder Ethiopia, Teka says he stopped ordering teff from home a long time ago and now gets it from a handful of farms in the United States. But costs have increased 25 percent in the last year, and he blames rising fuel prices.
“When gas goes up, commodities go up,” he said.
Teka said his business is holding steady, but he’s not sure how much longer he can ride out the storm.
If you look at the dwindling supply at the Nile Market, you can see why the customers are upset.
“If the government continues to block teff,” said shopper Kassahua Hailu, “it will get scary for us.”
Source: Medill Reports
May 5th, 2008 at 8:47 am
Eat Bread and Barlley Please this shudn’t be a big issue Here in the USA.
Thanks
May 5th, 2008 at 8:55 am
የህ ጉዳየ ገበቶናል ዋጋ ለመችሀመር ከሆነ እነተያያለን ደሞ ሰለተፍ ታወራለህ ሱልፈሪዚንግ አይደል እንደ የመነበላወ.ቱሩእንባ ለመዘረፈ ከዳዳ ነወ የመትፈሉጉእት.
May 5th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
The proposed solution from Woyane Legese Zenawi is “Since Teff is being exported to gain more exchange Ethiopian people have to adopt to alterenative food that teff engera”
That is how Agazi Agame would solve the problem
May 5th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
it is a timely measure that the Ethiopian government banned teff export because the gov’t must bother more to the poor people living in Ethiopia and suffering much from hiking price not to Diaspore who eats and talk, think of disturbing ethiopia after getting satisfied. they can eat what is availabe there. it is not bothering issue.
May 5th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Be goddamn creative and try to make injera out of other sources.
What a clueless bunch …… EAT CAKE!!
May 5th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
it is really sad to see us complain about the shortage of teff here in the west while the majority people in ethiopia survive on whatever is available…sometimes nothing. please get over your fascination with teff, think about the people back home who need it more than you do here. best of all why dont you guys buy teff grown in the USA rather than create shortage in ethiopia? Get over it diaspora….
May 5th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
I don’t think the issue here is about eating Injera or “Cake”, but how serious the food crisis is in the world.
May 5th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Those who complain about teff prices are the groups, awedeldais, who can not assimilate or integrate with the Ameican life standard. As a matter of fact, they are a disgrace. Why pay for overcooked food an average price us 8.00 when you can get a decent lunch at standard restaurant. Most of the owenrs do not know even how to boil water, and let alone to run restaurant….Poor Anglos they accept substandard as being ok when it comes…..you fill in the blank..
May 5th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
stop complaining here, what do the Ethiopians say if you complain while living in America? In America there are all kinds of food that can substitute to Teff-Injera, what about back home? they have nothing other than teff or wheat, may be maiz.
May 8th, 2008 at 8:08 am
News worthy?
u do care for teff (prestige) injera?
ppl in ethiopia do care for what?
May 10th, 2008 at 7:55 am
it is embarasing to hear such a noise here in US. Please stop complaning about Teff here
May 10th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Sometimes when you try to use the situation to your advantage you should have a grain of truth in what you say. If there is a price hike on injera it is because of the economic situation in the US. Most people who have made a livelyhood of baking injera get their teff from domestic market not from ethiopia. So mr reporter before you write your so called “report” do your homework and remeber not all your readers are going to accept your fabrication.
May 11th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
There are a lot of things to eat in US and I don’t care about it.
I care more about the price in Ethiopia, because Injera is the traditional bread.
Woyane always reporting about the “economical development” but they can NOT feed their own people.
May 16th, 2008 at 5:16 am
Please don’t take this as a serious problem Because of the export the people in Ethiopia can’t afford to have Teff Ingera. You want it for a change. But we want it for survival.