Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
PRICE RANGES
The following price ranges used in this topic refer to an average main course.
$
less than US$5
$$
US$5-10
$$$
more than US$10
Know Your Injera
With large Ethiopian populations living in Western countries many people will have tried
Ethiopian food in their home cities, but take note that what often passes for
injera
there is
not real
injera
at all. Although you
can
get real
injera
outside the Horn of Africa, most of
the time you will instead be served something made from a
tef
substitute.
Injera
made like
this lacks the slightly fermented, tangy taste and the rubbery feel of real
injera
.
When in Ethiopia, many foreigners quickly find themselves getting fed up of an endless
diet of
injera
(and that's without taking into account the sometimes undesired 'side-ef-
fects' on your stomach that eating a semifermented bread for days on end can cause some
visitors!); this is especially true of those eating only in cheap, local restaurants where
in-
jera
might not be of the highest quality. In fact, when we spoke to tour guides about this
most of them thought that around 80-90% of foreign visitors try to avoid eating
injera
again after a week in Ethiopia!
But let's not be too hard on
injera
. Some travellers adore the stuff and happily munch it
down for week after week and, being full of proteins and nutrients, it can actually help to
keep you healthy on the road.
If
injera
fatigue kicks in for you, then you'll probably find it worth splashing out on an
Ethiopian 'banquet' at a more expensive tourist-class restaurant in Addis or any of the big
tourist towns. Generally the
injera
at these places is of a very high quality and much less
sour. After a couple of meals like this you'll probably be ready to hit the cheap stuff again.
And if not, well you can always ask to have your
wat
served with bread instead of
injera
,
or even just resort to the (generally pretty disgusting) sloppy pasta and dubious sauce
that's sold everywhere!
