East African Food
East Africa is traditionally known to comprise of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, but it more commonly includes the countries of Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, South Sudan, Rwanda and Burundi.
East Africa is a stunningly beautiful region with fertile, temperate areas, humid tropical rainforests, grassy savannahs teeming with wildlife, sandy deserts, snow-capped mountains and sandy white beaches.
East African food varies from area to area. Along the coast from Somalia to Tanzania, you will find an exotic blend of Africa, Indian and the middle east. Arab and Persian traders who founded the ancient coastal towns of Mogadishu, Barawa, Marka, Kismayo, Lamu, Mombasa to Zanzibar introduced rice, garlic, coriander, chilli, cumin, cloves and many other spices. Indian traders introduced chapati and samosa, spicy triangular shaped pastries stuffed with either meat, vegetables or fish.
As you move inland to the Kenyan highlands, the basic staple food is ugali, a stiff porridge like dish made from maize flour usually eaten with greens, meat-based stews and curries.
Barbequed meats known as nyama choma is eaten in most of East Africa with chapati or ugali and kachumbari, a tomato, onion and green chilli salad.
In Uganda, matoke, cooked green bananas are popular and go beautifully with a peanut based stew.
Ethiopian food with its iconic injera flatbread and wat, a thick meat or vegetable stew spiced with berbere (a hot blend of chilli, fenugreek, ginger and other spices).