Food in Tanzania. Chakula.

Breakfast
Since I’ve been here, my breakfasts have been pretty much standard fare, with some small variations. Every day we have tea. I’m not sure exactly what kind of tea it is, but it’s not bad. I don’t have sugar in it, but I think everyone else here does. With the tea I usually get some sort of bread product. Among the various things are: plain bread and butter, chapati bread, and mandazi (dense like a bagel, but sweet like a donut, and in the shape of a ball or square). Lately, I have started topping my breakfast up with some peanuts bough from local stands.

Lunch and Dinner
The second and third meals of the day vary a bit more than the first, though often they are the same on any given day. Generally, there is some sort of starch. The two main ones are rice and ugali. Ugali is described as “dense porridge” but looks like mashed potatoes (or rice cakes) and doesn’t really taste like much. It can be filling and good if it is accompanied with something tasty. It is definitely not my favourite but it is sufficient when you’re hungry. I know my colleagues on Zanzibar have not had the pleasure of having this day in and day out (I can’t believe they’d complain about having rice every day) but I know Melissa and Nicole are not fond of it.

Usually with the ugali or rice there is some sort of vegetable. Often it is beans and spinach (or some other green, leafy thing). Cabbage and carrots or tomatoes sometimes make an appearance as well. Occasionally I get some sort of meat. Most often it is fish or beef, though I think I had chicken once.

Every now and then, I will get something without rice or ugali. I got potatoes in a tomato sauce once and then got cooked bananas another day.

Usually the later meals come with fruit. Usually this is bananas (if you’re wondering, the day I had cooked bananas, uncooked bananas were the side – I won’t be potassium deficient for a while), but I have also had oranges and watermelon, and Nicole and Melissa have had papaya.

Eating Out
Often I cannot make it back to my homestay for lunch, so we eat at a local restaurant. The options are a bit more varied than home. We can get chips (which are basically potato wedges) on their own or cooking in an egg. We can also get some meat on a skewer (not quite the same as the street meat in Seoul, and a lot of it is really just fat), as well as the same foods we have at home, with a bit more variety in the vegetables (and sometimes the meat is cooked in a tomato sauce/salsa).

There are a few places to get more gourmet food, but that is mostly Indian or Chinese and we haven’t had a lot of that.

Drinks
Though I can’t remember the last time I actually bought and drank a whole pop back home, I have had quite a few here. I have become somewhat addicted to Mirinda (made by Pepsi). It’s basically fruit flavoured pop (called soda here). My favourite is Pineapple, which incidentally I had for the first time my second last night in Korea. Other than that, I basically stick to water, which – if you buy it in the 12L jugs - is super cheap, though a bit heavy to carry.

Snacks
I had originally brought several clif bars and other snack foods, but alas, they were stolen so I have had to improvise. I can get small crackers and the above mentioned peanuts for really cheap and am currently looking for other snack foods to help supplement my diet (hopefully nutritious ones).

All in all, the food here is decent and I’m getting by. I definitely have to remember to take my multivitamins (I actually just replaced the ones that were stolen from me – and I got ones with ginseng from Korea – 18 months there without trying it and it takes me going to Tanzania to do so). I’m not starving by any means, though a bit more variety would be nice. I shouldn’t complain though. I feel healthy (surprisingly I haven’t really gotten sick in the almost three weeks I’ve been gone) and this is only temporary. Some of the food is even very enjoyable.