10/12/2023
GRINDING STONE
Food preparations take different forms. Some one uses a sharp instrument to slice the food such as tubers, vegetables, meat before it was be put in a pot . Grain, like rice, wheat, sorghum, millet and maize is a source of food. Maize can be boiled and eaten as snack. But maize, sorghum, millet are usually ground to produce powder, known as mealie meal from which porridge is prepared in form of nshima or soft porridge. The earliest "machine" used to grind grain was a grinding stone. Grinding process involves a combination of a big flat smooth stone known in Tonga as zyiyo was used as a base while a smaller flat smooth stone known as mwanankando was used to crush the grain by gliding over the base. The smaller one glides over the base one loaded with grain crushing the grain the grain into powder.
Human beings have from time immemorial used available materials to manufacture technology to enhance their existence. In Zambia different kinds of stones are available. So it was easy to harness technology to crush large quantity of grain into mealie meal for nshima preparation for the family. Women usually expertly used this technology to prepare nshima. Sometimes fresh maize grains are crushed . The product is bound into fresh green cob covers or makweelele and boiled and eaten like bread. Grain is rich in carbohydrates and therefore is an important part of human diet.
