Tanzanian Food

Some people have asked me about African food. Actually, a lot of the common dishes are similar to Native American or Mexican foods.

Typically, we eat porridge (like Cream of Wheat), manasi (fried rolls), chapati (like a tortilla) or boiled potatoes with sweetened tea for breakfast. This is served around 9:00 or so, after we've worked outside for a couple of hours.

Lunch is served around 1:00 and supper is served shortly after the generator kicks in at 7:00. Some menus for these meals are dega (sardines cooked with tomatoes and onion) and ugali (kind of like homemade Playdough), beans and rice, beans and boiled green bananas (They taste surprisingly like potatoes). Since we've moved to Gamasara, we've supplemented our meals with crops from the shamba. Often, we have cooked salsa or green vegetables cooked with onions and tomatoes with our rice or ugali.

Sweets are rare. I am amazed at the amount of food these kids can eat! Even the little ones heap their trays, and nothing is ever wasted. When one person finishes eating, he offers any left-overs to someone else. Sometimes leftovers from one meal are saved for the next.

Wonderful insulated containers keep food and chai (tea) hot until meal time. Food is usually cooked over an open fire. Beans are cooked with hot coals over the lid as well.

My favorite meals are beans and rice and green bananas and rice. I don't care for ugali, but it is like soybeans in that it soaks up the taste of any food it touches. I can eat it, especially on the days it's served with meat (typically beef).

Dega is my least favorite African food, but it has more to do with the processing than the taste. The fish are dried. When it is time to cook them, everyone sorts through them, removing the tails. Often the sorting is done on the floor! This, on top of seeing the flies on the dega when it is on sale at the market make it difficult for me to eat these little fish.

Special meals such as weddings or Christmas include chicken, beef, or goat meat. The animals wander the streets or are herded throughout town where they basically have open range. If you order chicken at a restaurant in town, you are likely to hear its last swalk before you are served.

All in all, Tanzanian food is tasty and fairly healthy. When we visited Serengeti National Park recently, I was able to buy a Snickers and some Laughing Cow Cheese. The candy tasted too sweet to me, but the cheese was heavenly. The african adults with me wouldn't try the cheese, but my boys liked it.

Part of the adventure of mission trips is experimenting with local foods, but it's always important to make sure it is thoroughly cooked, peeled, and/or boiled before eating. I don't eat the ends of bananas grown locally because I got worms from them once. Mangos, watermelon, pineapple, and passion fruit are also available.
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