Tanzania Food Guide: What to Eat in Tanzania
Since Tanzanian cuisine is not widely known, you might be wondering what food is like in Tanzania. Let us introduce you to some flavors of the country.
Tanzanian cuisine
The Tanzanian cuisine has been influenced not only by its neighboring countries, but also by the Indian cuisine, due to the Indian nationals who have started migrating for trade to Tanzania in the 19th century. There are many dishes that Tanzania is sharing with its neighbor Kenya, both in name and taste.
Coconut, aromatic spices such as cinnamon, cardamom, peppercorn and cloves, bananas, and beans are some of Tanzania’s most used ingredients in its national cuisine. As Tanzania has one of the largest livestock populations in Africa, Beef, goat and chicken are the most common types of meats with which people cook traditional Tanzanian meals.
For dessert, Tanzanians usually eat a lot of fruits, from bananas to mangoes, from watermelon to papaya. For special occasions Tanzanians eat cakes, and there are a few pastry shops in every city where you can order a sweet treat.
Tanzanian Breakfast
Tanzanian Breakfast comes either sweet or savory. Or sometimes both! The two most common things that you will find on the Tanzanian breakfast plate are eggs and crepes. They are accompanied by several different fruits and freshly squeezed juice as well as tea and coffee.
TANZANIAN Dishes:
Ugali
Ugali is without a doubt a staple of the Tanzanian cuisine. The most traditional Tanzanian food, ugali is never missing from a plate of food. At a first glance it looks like a big chunk of sticky rice, but it’s nothing like it. Ugali is made of only two ingredients: white maize flour and water. They are stirred together until they reach a stiff consistency that pulls apart easily from the sides of the pot. Ugali is served as a side for everything: meat or vegetable stews, beans, greens, and pretty much everything that has a sauce. Ugali is eaten by the hand, not with the fork. Simply pull a little bit apart, roll it in your hand to create a ball and then press it with your finger in the middle to create a small indent with which you can then scoop some stew. Ugali doesn’t really have a taste. Its role it is more to fill you up rather than taste like anything.
Pilau
Pilau is another Tanzanian traditional food, with roots spread all over the world. Making pilau is similar to making paella or risotto, so you might have tasted a similar dish before.
Tanzanian pilau is cooked using five main spices: black peppercorn, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and cumin seeds, crushed together in a mortar. It is usually made without any meat and served as a side dish. It is a very aromatic dish, as the onions and the spices are boiled for quite some time, to release flavor into the water in which the rice is added later. The best place to eat the traditional Tanzanian pilau would be at a local’s house and, if you choose to do a homestay somewhere in the country, make sure you get the chance to taste it. Restaurants serve it as well but there’s something about a home cooked pilau that makes it more delicious. Maybe it’s the love the locals cook it with.
Chapatti
Chapatti has its origins in India, however, Tanzania has adopted chapatti and made it its own, by modifying the recipe a bit. Tanzanian chapatti is thicker than its Indian relative and more filling.
Tanzanians eat chapatti for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Chipsi Mayai
Popular as a street food but easily found in most local restaurants, Chipsi Mayai would translate as a French fries omelette. After potatoes are fried, eggs are beaten and poured on top, binding them together. It is usually eaten with loads of ketchup on top, and a tomato and onion salad as side dish. It is incredibly cheap as well, even in restaurants.
Mishkaki
Another street food that you will find pretty much at every corner, especially in the evenings, is Mishkaki. Marinated pieces of beef are skewered together with vegetables and grilled over hot coal barbeques.
The meat is tender and juicy, with a smoky flavor.
Nyama Choma
Nyama Choma is Swahili for “roast meat”. In the streets you will usually see a big chunk of meat hung next to a grill, from which the cook keeps cutting off different pieces and places them above the hot coals.
You never know what part of the beef you will get. Nyama choma is great when you get the tender parts but if you’re unlucky you might end up with a really tough piece of meat that is impossible to chew.
Ndizi Nyama
This unique dish is extremely popular in Tanzania and it translates as “bananas with meat”, usually beef. It doesn’t sound very appetizing, but it tastes really good. Tanzania grows more than 20 different types of bananas. Among these, green bananas are used exclusively in cooking. The green bananas maintain their shape and texture once they are cooked, which make this Tanzanian dish look quite odd. In the stew, they taste more like potatoes than bananas, so imagine Ndizi Nyama tasting more of a potato with meat kind of stew rather than sweet bananas.
Nyama Mchuzi
This is a beef stew made with coconut milk. Usually the beef is slow cooked, so that it is very tender and almost melts in your mouth. Recommended!
Maharage ya Nazi
Maharage ya nazi translates simply as “rice and beans”. The beans are cooked in a curry sauce with coconut milk, which gives it a coconutty flavor, and the sauce has a nice aroma.
Choroko Nazi
Choroko nazi is made with chickpeas and coconut milk, and it resembles a thick soup rather than a stew. It’s usually served with ugali and is a great choice for vegetarians, with a nicely subtle coconut flavor. It is a dish that doesn’t look very appealing but tastes good.
Kachumbari
Kachumbari is the most popular salad in Tanzania, served with most dishes. You don’t have to order it, the salad is usually brought with your main meal. It consists of tomatoes and onions and has a very refreshing taste.
Zanzibari Cuisine
Food in Zanzibar is different that the dishes you would normally find in mainland Tanzania. Since Zanzibar is an island, there is plenty of fish and seafood around and it is an excellent place to eat plenty of it for relatively reasonable prices.
Urojo
If there’s one dish that completely captures Swahili culture, it’s urojo. Also called “Zanzibar street mix” or simply “Zanzibar mix,” this beautiful stew combines color, texture, and complexity—and is served steaming hot. Urojo is a popular favorite in Zanzibar, especially in Stone Town, and is sold by many street vendors in that region (check out the famous sea food haven at Forodhani Gardens). With its roots in India, this soup dish is a rich mashup of flavorful and spicy ingredients designed to offer an unforgettable mouthwatering experience with each bite! It is made from a flour-based soup, flavored with lemon and mango with some cubed potatoes, fried mashed potatoes, dashes of chutney, and a few potato shavings. You cannot go to Zanzibar without trying Urojo!
Mandazi
Mandazi are basically Tanzanian doughnuts. There aren’t many desserts in Tanzania, but mandazi is one of them. They are usually eaten for breakfast, with a cup of tea. Mandazi are not very sweet and, being made with coconut milk, have a nutty flavor.