Friday, May 28, 2010

Tanzanian Eats and Drinks

Many have asked what I have been eating here, and if my stomach is hanging in there with the new foods. My stomach has done surprisingly well! I don’t want to jinx myself, but I have not yet touched my Tums, Immodium, or Cipro! (Yes, I am knocking on wood right now). Here’s a good idea of what we’ve been eating.


Drinks

• Chai tea with ginger

• Fresh fruit juices (mango, passion fruit, etc.)

• Tusker, Kilimanjaro, Safari, and Serengeti Beer

• Banana beer (if you are brave)

• Coffee

• South African Wines

Breakfast

• Chai Tea with ginger. Yum!

• Porridge with Honey

• Fried or hardboiled egg

• Small, but not very sweet doughnuts

• Thin crepe-like pancakes with honey

• Bananas, bananas, bananas (over 120 different species of banana in TZ!)

• Mango

While I’m not a huge breakfast fan back home, breakfast has been my absolute favorite here in TZ!

Lunch/Dinner

• Ugali – corn based mashed potato looking stuff that you can mold into a bowl looking utensil and used to eat meat, veggies, etc

• Rice

• Beans

• Fried chicken parts (wings, legs, etc). Chickens are fresh here, and they fry or cook up everything

• Beef in tomato sauce, beef with bananas, plain beef. Not sirloin, not filet, not ground beef, just meat from a cow

• Cooked Spinach-like green stuff. Sometimes it is spinach, sometimes not. You can’t tell by looking, but some of the “spinach” stuff is better than others.

• Leeks with lemon. Really good!

• Salad with tomatoes, avocado, cucumbers, onions. We have an enormous avocado tree in the back yard, so we almost always have avocado with our meals

• Cooked mixed veggies (carrots, green beans)

• Chipati

• Fruit

The kitchen staff has also tried some Western favorites such as Enchiladas, spaghetti with veggie meatballs, pizza, and veggie burgers. All were pretty good, but definitely not like home. Well, except for the veggie burgers. Best I’ve ever tasted. Need to get the recipe they use for the veggie patties.

Dessert is not a normal thing here in Tanzania. I guess people get their sugar cravings satisfied by fruit alone. I tried that for awhile, but every once in awhile you really need some ice cream. Luckily, there is a ‘supermarket’ about 1.5 miles down the road that sells ice cream cups!

I have only eaten out once since arriving here in TZ. Last night, Ashley, Sara and I decided we were ready for some real pizza. We headed out to the Indoitaliano, the Indian/Italian restaurant in town, for a fun night of food and drink. We had garlic naan as an appetizer, and then each got a small pizza. It was wonderful! Granted, not as good as most that I’ve had in the States, but close enough! We polished off 2 bottles of wine and milkshakes for dessert. Such a great night! The restaurant was completely filled with Mzungus (white people). I guess the Tanzanians don’t really crave Italian like we do.

A little side note: While eating at Indoitaliano, I ran into Mel, the girl I volunteer with at WEECE, who I am also climbing Kilimanjaro with. She was with her hostel group, so I got to meet Rohit again, and meet Sandra for the first time. They are the two rounding out our climbing group. Mel is from Australia, Rohit is from India/UK/now US, and Sandra is from Germany. Should be a really fun experience!

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