Life is still largely pastoral in Ethiopia. Small-scale food production dominates the country's agriculture. Ethiopian gastronomy is a lesson in vegetarian cooking with a large number of starches at its core: lentils, millet ("t'ef" in Ethiopian), split peas ... Meat when eaten (usually beef, chicken, goat or lamb) is always served in a stew ( "Wat" in Ethiopian). The staple of their diet is the t'ef (or teff). This millet flour is the prime ingredient for making the injera: a sourdough-risen flatbread that not only functions as a dish to serve meals on, but also as a spoon to scoop up sauces and dishes. Indeed, in Ethiopia, the meal is always made up of a large single dish placed on a coffee table from which with the right hand only everyone carves out bite-size morsels using small pieces of injera. The other essential ingredient is the famous Berber blend: a mixture consisting mainly of hot pepper, cardamom and other endemic spices. It is sprinkled on stews or mixed with oil and Tej (Ethiopian mead) to form a dough called "awaze" which is the foundation for several marinades. The Awaze is also used as a condiment per se much in the same way that harrissa in North Africa or the purée of Espelette pepper in the Basque Country are used.