*empty wallet, full stomach* The weird thing about being in a cash-based society is how quickly one can become helpless. I actively avoid having large amounts of cash available, a habit that hasn't proven any difficulty in Canada, the U.S, or Western Europe; a habit that is completely nonsensical where I am now. "Now", of course, refers to both the island I am at — Zanzibar — & also the specific restaurant I am writing from, where I am not certain I have a sufficient amount of cash to pay the bill. In an unfortunate chain of events[^1] if the bill is 1000 shillings more than my rough tally predicts, I will be out of luck. Either way, I'll be out of cash. This occurrence has arrived surprisingly often — surprising, given you'd expect I'd learn from the last time I was caught without enough cash, or the time before that. And still, it happens again & again. ~ A while back, there was a *Great Big Story* video on ["Zanzibar pizza" ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86idhCsmZto). Savar gave me a mission to find the original stall. After some finagling (I didn't have wifi; every pizza stall wanted to claim they were the "famous one"), I realised that (a) the original stall was much smaller than one would expect (b) unlike other tourist attractions that have gone viral, this stall didn't advertise their virality at all. In fact, rather than being overrun with customers, Muhamedi (the owner) was actually chatting with another stall owner on the other side of the market. In any case, I talked with him and his friend Yusuf for about a half hour. I asked them about the video, about the origins of Zanzibar pizza, about passionate careers (Great Big Story was a very small team that somewhat lucked into finding his contact; Muhamedi's stepbrother adapted the recipe from Nairobi food stands; Muhamedi really enjoys cooking). During the conversation, I ate two pizzas. Incredible, by the way. I opened my wallet to pay at the end, and realised I had no cash left. *Hakuna matata*, Muhamedi told me. At the last second, I luckily found a 10,000 shilling bill in my back pocket — the exact amount needed. Four USD to meet a celebrity and get an absurdly good meal. [^1]: Being locked out of my bank, thus not having a card that works with the ATMs around me; not having reception or data to fix this problem.