Chakula ya Kenya

(Kenyan Cuisine)

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Many of the typical Kenyan dishes are common throughout all of East Africa. The character of the foods tends to be simple and filling, with some kind of starch with meat although I try to get a lot of fruits and vegetables in there too. Kenyan meals nearly always include some kind of meat, usually beef or chicken. This was a little tricky for me to get used to because although I’m not vegetarian, my diet at home rarely included meat. The first 2 weeks or so, my fingernails started growing a lot more quickly than usual. I don’t know the reason, but something in my diet I assume, maybe meat? One traditional Kenyan food available everywhere is ugali, that I think I’ve tried to describe before. I didn’t really like it that much at first, but it’s delicious now. It always has to be eaten with something like meat and sauce or kale or cabbage, because it’s pretty bland on it’s own. We also have rice a lot or pilau which is brown rice with pieces of meat mixed in sort of like a stew. Chapati is also a common meal in Kenyan households, borrowed from Indian cuisine, similar to a tortilla with rice or chicken. Chapati is one of my favorite meals…Ninapenda chapati sana. For lunch often we go out and grab something quick from Nakumatt, the grocery store or a bakery or local joint, which are kind of hit or miss-sometimes I’ve gotten some pretty tough chicken stew. Often I’ll get a samosa or sandwich from a bakery-sandwiches are always considered appetizers by Kenyan standards and never a meal, so they’re usually really cheap.

Breakfast in my house is pretty simple, which I like a lot. I know some of the other students have elaborate breakfasts of tea, eggs, meat, fruit and ugi (breakfast porridge drink) every morning. I am happy that I get to walk in the kitchen, pour myself a mug of tea from one of the numerous thermoses around the kitchen (tea is the drink of Kenya…I probably drink 4 glasses a day) It’s made with milk and sugar and so doesn’t usually taste like the typical tea I’m used to, but it’s delicious. Then I pour a bowl of cornflakes or have some toast and jam.

In the city there are lots of nice restaurants of all varieties. There is a strong Indian influence, but it tastes a lot different than real Indian food, still good though. And there is a really nice American style coffee house that has really yummy and very American tasting burgers and toasted sandwiches. Also interesting to me is the wide variety of Mexican food available at the American place. It’s slightly more expensive than other restaurants (a whopping $4 for a sandwich, which isn’t bad obviously, but cheaper can certainly be found) With money I’ve found it’s wiser to not convert to American all the time, because you’ll think you’re getting a good deal and you’re really not.

I am surprised there are really no American chain fast-food restaurants anywhere. I’ve not seen a single McDonalds since coming here or any other American restaurants for that matter. I have seen restaurants with American names though, like there’s a Taco Bell, which is a bar that ironically serves no Mexican food, and the other day we saw a restaurant called Hooters that looked nothing like it’s American counterpart of the same name.