Food And Drink

Food and drink plays a very important role in travel as well as being a necessity it has cultural importance as food and drink is regional and can change dramatically from place to place. Depending on what grows in the local area, flavours can define a place like India and its signature dish the curry which is different in every state. Having a meal can be a real social occasion and a great way of meeting people from all walks of life and a great way of being accepted into a community. Often the local hooch is partaken, from your honey beer to Waragi a distilled beverage drank in East Africa. Always be careful of some home made alcohol as you don't know what goes in them. As a rule eat where the locals eat as you will find more authentic local dishes and you know it will be good as locals wouldn't eat in bad restaurants. Always be aware of eating things like salad as it could be washed in untreated water and fresh fruit juices from stalls as they can be mixed with untreated water. If you're going to have a dish with spices ask for a little spicy and work your way up the spice scale, there's nothing worse than getting a meal that's so hot your mouth is on fire and your eyes are streaming as it feels more like a bush tucker challenge rather than a pleasurable meal. A good meal can be a real highlight of your trip it could be just amazing food, who you're eating and drinking with or the location will all be part of your memorable adventure. 

      East Africa Traditional Food And Drink 

 Kenya
 

   Ugali  is a Kenyan staple food, a type of maize flour porridge. Ugali is sometimes made from other flours, such as millet or sorghum flour, and is sometimes mixed with cassava flour. It is cooked by mixing it with boiling water or milk until it reaches a stiff or firm dough-like consistency. 

 Githeri  consisting of beans and maize that are stewed with onions, tomatoes, and sometimes potatoes or meat chunks. The stew is often flavoured with cumin, chilli powder and turmeric . It is traditionally served on its own, but can be served with rice bread.

 Sukuma  Wiki is one of Kenya’s national dishes. It is essentially braised greens and tomatoes. Traditionally, kale, spinach or collard greens. 

 Kenyan Stew  is prepared with either goat, chicken or beef, oil, onions, curry powder, tomatoes, coriander, and garlic. The base is prepared with peppers, peas, potatoes, and carrots. 

 Nyama Choma  means barbecued and is one of Kenya's favoured foods. The meat is normally goat or beef.   

 Kachumbar i is a Kenyan vegetable salad with tomatoes and onions which are tossed with cilantro to create the base for this salad.  Avocados, cucumbers, and red chilli peppers are also added with a squeeze of lime juice.

 Mandazi  is a form of fried bread made from water, sugar, flour, yeast, and milk. Coconut milk is often added for extra sweetness 

 Vitumbua  is Coconut Rice Pancakes made in a special vitumbua griddle pan using rice, yeast, coconut milk,  grated coconut, salt, sugar, cardamom, butter and oil. 

 Chai  which is the national drink, basically chai consists of black tea leaves, milk and sugar.

 Mursik  a sweet drink made from cultured milk that is flavoured with traditional herbs and preserved using charcoal. 

 Afia Juice  a fresh fruit juice which includes apple, mango, lemon or a tropical mix. 

 Coffee  is another drink which is popular in Kenya. You can get great coffee here as Kenyan coffee is grown here, normally its made up of coffee, milk and sugar.

 Changaa  is a traditional home-brewed spirit, popular in Kenya. It is made by fermentation and distillation from grains like millet, maize and sorghum, and is very potent. 

 Muratina  is a traditional Kenyan wine named after the fruit of the same name, honey and sugar cane also goes into the mix and is then fermented for around four days.

 Uganda 

 Posho  is a Ugadan staple food, a type of maize flour porridge. Posho is sometimes made from other flours, such as millet or sorghum flour, and is sometimes mixed with cassava flour. It is cooked by mixing it with boiling water or milk until it reaches a stiff or firm dough-like consistency.

 Luwombo  is a stew dish of chicken, beef, mushrooms or fish which is often smoked. A paste is made from grinding nuts and dried fish all wrapped up in a banana leaf and then steamed.

 Sim-sim  is  sesame dish where sesame is roasted and then mixed into a stew of beans and greens.

 Malewa  is prepared using bamboo shoots air dried and smoked, the shoots are then mixed in a ground nut sauce and salt and then added to with plantains, sweet potatoes or cassava. 

 Nsenene  is a dish of fried grasshoppers which are either eaten on their own or mixed with beef, chicken or vegetables.

 Rolex  is a vegetable omelette which is then wrapped in a Chapati.

 Mandaz i is a form of fried bread made from water, sugar, flour, yeast, and milk. Coconut milk is often added for extra sweetness. 

 Kashata  is a sweet dish very similar to peanut brittle using unsalted roasted peanuts, coconut, sugar and cinnamon. 

 Mukuuza’s bushera  is a hot drink made from mix hot water with sorghum.

 Pombe  is locally made fermented beer, usually from banana or millet often called banana wine.

 Waragi  is a homemade distilled beverage made from either cassava, bananas, millet or sugar cane, depending on what is grown in the area.

 Tanzania 

 Wali wa nazi  is rice cooked in a combination of coconut milk and water. It is usually seasoned only with salt and normally eaten with a curry dish.

 Supu ya ndizi  is a soup made from chicken stock and plantain which is mashed into a purée and seasoned with salt and pepper.

 Mchuzi wa samaki  is a fish curry found mainly in Zanzibar. The curry is a made up of fish, onions, oil, garlic, curry powder, coriander tomatoes, water, and lemon juice.

 Mishkaki  is barbecued beef or chicken cubed and skewered then marinated in lemon and vinegar and slow cooked over charcoal. 

 Wali na maharage  is basically rice and beans with rice cooked in coconut milk and the beans are cooked until mushy and seasoned with pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, and cumin, often served with meat, fish or vegetables. 

 Mchemsho  is a stew consisting of potatoes, green beans, carrots, bananas, tomatoes, cabbage, eggplant, sweet peppers and seasoned with spices.

 Mchicha  is a creamy dish made from spinach, grated coconut, coconut milk, peanut butter, tomatoes, and onions and often severed with rice.

 Vitumbua  is a cross between a doughnut and a pancake made from rice flour, coconut, yeast coconut milk, water and cardamon.

 Ndizi Kaanga  is a popular dish in Tanzania made from plantain or green bananas which are either fried or grilled with a little sugar to sweeten them.

 Mtindi  is a cultured milk drink which can be sweet or salty and is a bit similar to yoghurt.

 Coffee  is drank all over Tanzania as it is another coffee producing area in East Africa. 

 Mbege  is a homebrew beer which is made from ripe bananas and sprouted millet powder, more like wine than beer.

 India

 Thali  is a meal that is made of several little dishes: 6 different flavours of sweet, salt, bitter, sour, astringent and spicy. A Thali normally will include rice, dal, vegetables, roti, papad, yogurt, and pickle all served in small metal dishes.

 Vegetable Kurma  is a South Indian dish, a type of curry that is made with vegetables which are simmered in a spice and coconut base sauce served with either rice or Parotta, Poori, Chappathi or an Appam,

 Biryani  is an aromatic rice dish that can be either vegetable or meat. A biryani is built up of layers with spices and a gravy of onion and tomato all cooked in a large cooking pot called a Dum pukht.

 Samosa  is a fried triangle shaped pastry with a savoury vegetarian or meat filling and normally comprises of potatoes, onions, peas, cheese, and meat, the fillings change depending on region.

 Chole bhature  is a North Indian dish which is combination of two dishes, a chole, a spicy chickpea curry, and bhature which is a fried bread made with maida flour.

 Pani puri  are fried dough balls which are then stuffed with chickpeas, potatoes, onion, spicy tangy water or sweet chutney.

 Tandoori chicken  is a whole chicken which is marinated in spices and Kashmiri chillis which give the chicken the red colour and is then cooked in a tandoori oven which is cylindrical and made from clay, being wood fired which gives the smokey taste.

 Dosa  is a rice pancake which is fermented then fried and served with a lentil sauce (sambar) and a variety of chutneys.

 Banana chips  are found everywhere, made with unripe nendran bananas and then fried in coconut oil.

 Medu vada  is an Indian snack which is similar to a doughnut, a deep fried batter made from black lentils and seasoned with fenugreek, cumin, pepper, chili, and ginger.

 Kheer  is a type of rice pudding which is made by boiling rice in milk and sugar garnished with saffron, cardamom, dry fruits and nuts.

 Lassi  a yogurt based drink. It is a blend of yogurt, water, spices and sometimes fruit.

 Masala Chai  is a spiced milk tea made by boiling milk, water, sugar and spices which include cinnamon, ginger, cloves, cardamom, star anise and fennel seeds. Recipes differ from place to place.

 Toddy  is an alcoholic drink which is tapped from the coconut palm using clay pots which are tied to the flower stump to collect the sap.

 Desi Daru  is fermented and distilled from molasses which comes from sugar cane, it is similar to rum.

 Nepal
 

 Dal bhat  is a Nepal staple often eaten twice a day. Dal Bhat is a lentil curry and rice severed with vegetable or meat curry, pickles, papad, roti and curd and comes on a metal tray with small bowls. It does vary throughout Nepal and is similar to the Indian Thali. 

 Gundruk  made by fermenting leaf vegetables such as rayo sag, mustard leaves, radish leaves, and cauliflower and usually served as a side dish.

 Yomari  is a sweet steamed dumpling made from rice flour and water and the filling consists of molasses, roasted sesame seeds, cashew nut or peanuts, grated coconut and oil.

 Thukpa  is a noodle soup which is either vegetable or meat thukpa originating from Tibet but is a staple in Nepal. The dish is made up from noodles, green beans, carrot, mushrooms, cabbage, spring onion, Garlic, ginger, a mix of spices and water. 

 Chatamari  is similar to a French crepe, made from rice flour, eggs, spices such as chilli powder, cumin powder, ginger and garlic which is fried in a pan and topped with things like egg, minced meat, tomato and coriander.

 Bara  is a pancake made from black lentils mixed with spices such as asefoetida, cumin, turmeric, and ginger and water mixed to make a paste then fried in a pan.

 Sandheko  is a spicy peanut salad with onion, garlic, chillies, tomatoes, coriander, lime juice, cumin and mustard oil.

 Momos  is a stuffed dumpling made from wheat flour and water. The filling can be vegetarian or meat with things like carrot, soy granules, potato, flat bean and cabbage. The  meats are usually pork, chicken, goat meat and buffalo meat. Momos are either steamed or fried and served with a spicy achar sauce.

 Juju dhau  is a fermented milk desert made from buffalo milk, cardamom and coconut which give yogurt a sweet taste and served in clay pots. 

 Sel roti  is similar to a ring doughnut which is made from rice flower, milk, water, sugar, ghee, butter, cardamom, cloves and fried in oil.

 Raks i is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from rice or millet, it's a clear liqueur like vodka.

 Chang  is a home brewed beer made from fermented grains like maze, millet, barley or rye.

 Butter Tea  is made from Yak butter, water, a fermented black tea and salt which is all boiled together and served in small tea bowls.

 Chai  on most corners you will see a Chai stall serving the famous milk tea which is brewed in a pan usually on a kerosene single ring cooker. Nepal has some good Tea and Coffee as both are grown here.

Laos

   Vegetable laap is a delicious Laotian dish. It features finely chopped or minced vegetables, such as carrots, cabbage, and green beans, tossed with lime juice, soy sauce, herbs, chili, and toasted rice powder. It's a refreshing and satisfying vegetarian option with bold flavours.

Vegetable Tom Yum Soup is a spicy and sour Thai soup made with a medley of fresh vegetables, lemongrass, lime leaves, galangal, and chili peppers, offering a delicious and aromatic vegetarian option.

Laos Baguette is a traditional Laotian dish that combines French influence with local flavors. It features a crusty baguette filled with savory ingredients like marinated pork, cilantro, pickled vegetables, and spicy sauces, creating a delightful fusion of cuisines.

Khanom Krok is a popular Laos street food consisting of small, round coconut pancakes. They are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, with a sweet and slightly salty flavor.

Kao Niao is a traditional Thai sticky rice dish commonly served with fresh mango. It is made by steaming glutinous rice and combining it with sweetened coconut milk for a deliciously sticky and fragrant treat.

  Kaipen also known as river weed, is a popular Laotian delicacy made from freshwater green algae. It is seasoned, dried, and then deep-fried to create a crispy and savory snack enjoyed by locals and visitors alike.

Loas Soop Pak is a traditional Lao soup made with a variety of vegetables, herbs, and sometimes meat. It is known for its flavorful broth and is often enjoyed with sticky rice.

Khao Niew is a Laos and Thailand dessert made with sticky rice served with  mango

Khao Nom Krok is a popular street food delicacy, small coconut rice pancakes cooked in a special mold, resulting in a crispy outside and soft, coconutty inside.

khaafeh Lao is a coffee grown mainly in the Bolaven Plateau in southern Laos, it has rich flavours and a smooth finish.

Saa hawn a cup of tea made with Laos tea which is mainly grown in the hills around Phongsaly which is in the north of the country with it distinct aroma of being earthy and fruity.

Lao-Lao is a rice whisky its a traditional Laotian spirit made from fermented glutinous rice, strength from around 40 to 45% alcohol.

Beer Lao is a pale larger which is made with rice and hops its known for its crisp, refreshing taste