Chakula (food)

This is a post dedicated to some of the delicious (and maybe not so delicious) Tanzanian cuisine.  Before I came to Tanzania, I had a lot of comments from my friends and family about food. Examples include: "what are you going to eat?!" and "you are going to starve!" This just meaning that I am somewhat of a picky eater. I will defend myself and say this, I will always try something once. Besides, usually it's not the taste of the food that I have an aversion to, but the texture.  Originally I had thought I was going to lose some weight while being here. After a few weeks I feel as though I am keeping up just fine and actually loving most of the foods that we have tried.

Traditional Tanzanian Foods

Our food that we eat for lunch is very basic, and I know that I have previously posted pictures showing what a typical lunch looks like. The cooks here at CCBRT make a hearty, filling meal that includes: wali (rice), maharage (beans), ugali (maize flour), pilau (brown rice with spices and meat) and/or kibichi  (cabbage).  

Ugali  is a dish of maize flour (cornmeal) cooked with water to a porridge- or dough-like consistency. It is the most common staple starch in Tanzania, and doesn't have a whole lot of taste to it. Traditionally it is eaten with your hands and you take a piece and roll it into a ball. I have a difficult time eating certain foods with strange textures, although it is not horrible tasting (mostly because it is just flour and water) it does sort of taste and feel like play-doh. 

Looks a lot like mashed potatoes. Paired with cooked cabbage and some unknown vegetable.

Another dish that we have gotten to try at CCBRT is called ndizi-nyame (plantains with meat). Basically it's cooked green bananas with some type of meat which turns out to be sort of like a beef stew or banana soup. When I first tried it I could have sworn I was eating potatoes. Then with a closer look, turns out they were just bananas!  This was actually a pretty good meal, considering I refuse to eat even the slightest green banana at home. 

Sambusa, or samosa is a fried or baked pastry in a triangular shape that is filled with different spices and usually ground beef.  They look like egg rolls in triangular form and taste delicious. You can also find these pretty much anywhere, and usually only cost 500-600 Tsh (around 35 cents).  These have become a favorite of mine.

Another one of my new Tanzanian favorites is chipsi mayai (chips and eggs). Basically it's a potato and egg omelette and is found pretty much anywhere. They take chips and toss them into a frying pan with a couple of eggs and some grease and fry until golden and crispy. It is usually topped with chili or tomato sauce and you can also find some places that will put beef in it. You can find chipsi mayai pretty much anywhere. When we tried it, we bought it at a food stand on the street.  If you can forget about where and how it's made, chipsi mayai is a yummy meal for only 1,500 Tsh ($1). 

Probably not very healthy, but VERY tasty.

Maandazi is a fluffy fried bread snack, tasting much like a donut.  They are less sweet than donuts in the US, and typically aren't served with any glaze or frosting. Usually they are triangular in shape and when cooked, they have a "fluffy" feeling and texture to them. I was unable to get a picture when we tried these yummy treats, so I utilized google images. 

Pilau is basically brown rice with spices and meat. It originates from India but in Tanzania it tastes and looks very different from the Indian pilau. Tanzanian pilau typically uses more spices than the Indian version. It has definitely become one of my favorite dishes here, and is also very easy to find and inexpensive. One other food that we keep hearing about is Chapati. It is technically an Indian flatbread that is paired with soup or stew. We have yet to try it, but we found that it is not hard to find and also inexpensive. Here is another google image since we haven't tried them yet.

Chapati

The vegetables here are usually cooked kibichi, or cabbage, which has become something I really enjoy on the side of some rice. The restaurants in Moshi also use a lot of sukuma wiki, or kale. The first time we ate it, I was not particularly fond of plain cooked kale. However, I have eaten quite a bit of it throughout my time here and it is pretty tasty when mixed with other veggies and rice.

MOSHI RESTAURANTS

Krista and I have spent a lot of time in the last five weeks experimenting at different restaurants and trying different foods.  Moshi offers a large variety of restaurants that offer Tanzanian, Continental, Indian, Italian, and other types of foods as well.  To start off with, one of our favorite places to buy food thus far is Abbas Ally's Hot Bread Shop. There is an excellent selection of fresh pastries, delicious bread, and one of my favorites - samosas! Glacier Bar is a unique outdoor sports bar with a dance floor and loud music. The wazungu hotspot on Friday nights has some pretty good food for fairly cheap. They offer a good "sizzler", which is reminds me kind of like sizzling fajitas that you eat right off of the pan. They also offer some entertainment!  We got the chance to see some Tanzanian acrobats doing some pretty crazy stunts. 

Crazy acrobats at Glacier Bar.

Many of the restaurants in town also offer pizzas. We tried a Bolognaise pizza at Key's Hotel and a "sausage" and mushroom pizza at the Leopard hotel. Whenever we have seen sausage, it usually is a sliced hot dog. We have also gotten the margarita pizza at the Union Cafe a couple of times (as mentioned in a previous post). There is a restaurant called Indoitaliano that serves some tasty Italian and Indian food, although the prices are a little higher here.

Bolognaise pizza at Key's Hotel

Most of the restaurants that we have experimented with have been a success. There have been some not-so-great attempts. Many of the restaurants by our house are smaller and many of the waiters don't speak English. Our first week here we tried a place called "Best Bite." We quickly found out that they don't even have a menu, and when we tried to ask what they had to eat all she could tell us was "fish and rice" or "chicken and rice." We just decided to get one of each and hope for the best.  While the each meal only cost $3,000 Tsh, it was an interesting surprise when the plates were sat in front of us. The fish had come completely whole covered in some sauce. I know that they probably serve a lot of their fish this way, but it was a surprise to me to find a fish staring up at me. The chicken was mediocre, but overall the meal was not pleasant. This was also the first time that we had eaten plain cooked kale.  We learned a lesson this day, not all of our experiences were going to be great!

One disappointing thing in Tanzania that I have found out is that there aren't a lot of sweets. Not very many people like to eat candy and treats like I do! Most "desserts" include fresh fruit. Don't get me wrong, I love some fresh watermelon and pineapple, but every once in a while I like some candy or other sweets as a treat. The cookies/crackers here are called "biscuits" and generally are a plan shortbread. We have tried their chocolate bars a few times, including Snickers, peanut M & Ms, Twix, and Mars. Although they taste good (because chocolate always tastes good to me), it is definitely different than chocolate back home.  Even though there aren't many sweets around here, one thing that most restaurants offer is ice cream and milkshakes. Krista has tried a few of the milkshakes from the Union Cafe and from Kilimanjaro Coffee Lounge. I have found a treat that I used to have when I was a little kid, orange soda float (I'm not particularly fond of Root Beer, so I would always have my soda floats with orange pop). I have also found that Fanta orange has become my new favorite soda.

Fanta Float. Tastes like a yummy orange creamsicle.

I haven't experienced too many strong food cravings from back home. I know that once 11 weeks has come and I am heading home I will be excited for some chocolate that I'm used to and some of the other foods that  I haven't been able to have. Until then, the food is just one of the aspects that I have come to love about this place.

-K