Sorrel!

As I stopped to buy bread on my way to the market, a man, upon learning my surname is Jallow, asked if I ate sorrel. The sorrel sauce is one of my favorites; I hadn’t eaten it in months, but the memory excited me. So I said, "Yes! Sorrel is sweet." The man questioned my answer and asked again, with disbelief, “You will eat sorrel?” I thought he was doubting that white people ate sorrel, so I answered again, more firmly, "Yes, I will eat sorrel."

But again the man doubted my answer. So again I tried convincing him otherwise. This continued until I'd been given my six dalasis in change and could continue walking to the market. After the market (where I bought peanut butter and candles) I stopped at Julia’s compound; I think I'd left my mobile there the previous night. As I'm left, Julia's host mom asked me to taste a spoonful of the sorrel sauce.

Umu Jallow: Do you know what it is?
Me: Yes! Sorrel!

And then, excited by this coincidence, I told her all about the man who'd asked me if I ate sorrel and how I'd told him YES. I thought she would laugh. Maybe she did, a little, but then she said, “No, no. Say, ‘Jallows do not eat sorrel. Bahs eat sorrel.’”

Why did no one tell me earlier that sorrel-eating is part of the Bah-Jallow joking relationship??