"The American people do not cook?"

I’m sitting in my neighbors’ compound with Levi on my lap. The village alkalo is passing through.


Alkalo: Give me your dog. (I guess since he’s the alkalo he can forgo the usual greetings if he wants to)
Me: No, he is my baby.
Alkalo: Will you take him to America?
Me: No, he will not like America because there is no bush there, just houses, and he likes to run.
Alkalo: Ah, only villages?
Me: Yes.
Ado, who is sitting nearby: The American people do not cook?

I'm puzzled how her question relates to our conversation, but she is pretending to cook benichen out of dirt, so maybe the answer was relevant to her game? Or maybe it doesn't relate. Ado has a habit of asking me random questions about America.

Me: No, American people will cook.
Ado: But there is no bush, how will they cook?

I pause to consider the connection between the bush and cooking. Gambians don’t go to the bush to cook, they go to their cooking huts. Wait…aha! The wood for their cooking fires is gathered from the bush!

Me: American people will cook but they will not go to the bush. They have a machine for cooking, I don’t know what it’s called…
Ado: Gas.

And by “gas,” she means a gas burner like the kind I’ve got in my hut.

Me: Yes, gas.
Ado: All American people cook with gas!
Me: Yes, all the people.

Because how was I going to explain microwaves? Or ovens, even?