Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
foods, like Italian or French, alongside an abundance of seafood dishes. Outside these
towns you'll rapidly become familiar with fried-food joints and pizza parlours.
Whatever the sign above the door, you'll find that most menus are meat-orientated, al-
though you might be lucky to find a few vegetarian side dishes. The reason for this is
pretty obvious - Namibia is a vast desert, and the country imports much of its fresh fruit
and vegetables from South Africa. What is available locally is the delicious gem squash
and varieties of pumpkin such as butternut squash. In season, Namibian oranges are deli-
cious; in the Kavango region, papayas are served with a squeeze of lemon or lime.
More than anything else, German influences can be found in Namibia's
konditoreien
(cake shops), where you can pig out on
Apfelstrudel
(apple strudel),
Sachertorte
(a rich
chocolate cake layered with apricot jam),
Schwartzwälder Kirschtorte
(Black Forest
cake), and other delicious pastries and cakes. Several places in Windhoek and Swakop-
mund are national institutions. You may also want to try Afrikaners' sticky-sweet
koekses-
ters
(small doughnuts dripping with honey) and
melktart
(milk tart).
Cooked breakfasts include bacon and boerewors (farmer's sausage), and don't be sur-
prised to find something bizarre - curried kidneys, for example - alongside your eggs.
Beef in varying forms also makes an occasional appearance at breakfast time.
Evening meals feature meat, normally beef or game. A huge beef fillet steak or a kudu
cutlet will set you back no more than N$100. Fish and seafood are best represented by
kingklip, kabeljou and several types of shellfish. These are available all over Namibia, but
are best at finer restaurants in Windhoek, Swakopmund and Lüderitz, where they'll nor-
mally be fresh from the sea.
Drinks
In the rural Owambo areas, people socialise in tiny makeshift bars, enjoying local brews
like
oshikundu
(beer made from
mahango
- millet),
mataku
(watermelon wine),
tambo
(fermented millet and sugar) or
mushokolo
(a beer made from a small local seed) and
wal-
ende,
which is distilled from the
makalani
palm and tastes similar to vodka. All of these
concoctions, except
walende,
are brewed in the morning and drunk the same day, and
they're all dirt cheap.
For more conventional palates, Namibia is awash with locally brewed lagers. The most
popular drop is the light and refreshing Windhoek Lager, but the brewery also produces
Tafel Lager, the stronger and more bitter Windhoek Export, and the slightly rough Wind-
hoek Special. Windhoek Light and DAS Pilsener are both drunk as soft drinks (DAS is of-
ten called 'breakfast beer'!), and in winter Namibia Breweries also brews a 7% stout
