Swahili Cuisine!

I wanted to discuss some of the delicious things I eat here in Tanzania, but last time I uploaded photos here they were so large so I won't do it this time. Anyway...today I had pasta with chipsi (or fried potatoes/fries) with cabbage, dinner included rise (wali) with cabbage and meat (ngombe/nyama) and this is pretty much what I get more or less Monday to Friday. Rice, pasta, potatoes, plantains, beans (maharagwe), and cabbage. I was actually more than surprised when there was meat for dinner (chakula cha jioni) tonight. I usually get this no more than once a week. So I am basically a future vegetarian. My first breakfast (chakula cha asubuhi) though was interesting. It was beaf soup (supu ya ngombe) and it was a wee bit too spicy since accidentally forgot that the chills here are quite strong.

However, I have asked people what their favorite food is here and well it is rice, chips, ugali (maize pudding) and chicken (kuku). Surprise surprise! On the other hand they had no idea what MacDonald's was and neither had they tried pizza. We explained the latter as Chapati (kind of like pancakes) with sauce, cheese and meat on it. They were still very confused.

Basically it seems like Tanzanian cuisine is based on a staple of carbs, where ugali, rice and potatoes are cheap and almost everyone here seem to have a plot where they cultivate maize/corn. Some also use cassava or plantains (cooking banana) to add some more carbs. These all go together in different variations. Except rice and ugali which seem to be served together with some sauce.

Of course there are variations to the diet. I like mishikaki which are grilled kebabsticks and there is never a problem finding grilled corn (which I yet haven't tried). There's rarely any problem finding small dough-shaped triangles called samosas which are filled with beef or vegetables for example.

Some people would probably ask what I drink over here and well except for beer (Kilimanjaro, Safari, Serengeti and Ndovu) there is juice (juisi), chai, miwa (sugarcane juice), instant coffee and water (maji) and of course probably the most common drink here - SODA. Even in the remotest areas you'll find a Pepsi, Coke, Fanta, Mountain Dew or Miranda bottles. And they are incredibly cheap mostly.

So if you feel like you'd like to dine some fine Swahili cuisine back in Sweden then don't despair b/c we have a place in central Stockholm called Chakula.