Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Restaurants
For Western-style meals, stick to cities or main towns, where there's a reasonable to good
array of restaurants, most moderately priced compared with their European equivalents.
Lunch is served between about noon and 2.30pm, and dinner from about 7pm to 10pm.
The smaller the town, the earlier its restaurants are likely to close; after about 7pm in rural
areas it can be difficult to find anything other than street food.
Most main towns have at least one supermarket selling various imported products such
as canned meat, fish and cheese (but not speciality items such as trail food or energy bars).
In coastal areas, you can always find a fresh catch of fish and someone to prepare it for
you; the best time to look is early morning.
KARIBU CHAKULA
If you're invited to join in a meal -
karibu chakula
- the first step is hand wash-
ing. Your host will bring around a bowl and water jug; hold your hands over the
bowl while your host pours water over them. Sometimes soap is provided, and a
towel for drying off.
The meal itself inevitably centres around ugali - the main staple made from
maize or cassava flour (or both) and sauce. Take some with the right hand from
the communal pot, roll it into a small ball with the fingers, making an indenta-
tion with your thumb, and dip it into the accompanying sauce. Eating with your
hand is a bit of an art, but after a few tries starts to feel natural. Don't soak the
ugali too long (to avoid it breaking up in the sauce), and keep your hand lower
than your elbow (except when actually eating) so the sauce doesn't drip down
your forearm.
Except for fruit, desserts are rarely served; meals conclude with another
round of hand washing. Thank your host by saying
chakula kizuri
or
chakula
kitamu
- both local ways of saying that the food was tasty and delicious.
