Get A Snack: This Post Is All About Food

Mambo!

Happy early christmas! This is my last day at work before a two week break until the new year. I’ll be heading to Kigali, Rwanda and Kampala, Uganda. I’m so excited to get out of Mwanza and my shitty apartment.

My job isn’t going great, but I think this break will give me some time to think about my options and plan for the new year. Plus, I no longer have malaria or any infections, so things are looking up!!

I loveeee food, I love cooking, baking and eating food. So I knew I had to share all of the local (and homemade non-local) dishes which I eat on a regular basis. I don’t think I’m a picky eater, but I’m not adventurous and I’m vegetarian so you won’t see anything too crazy or wild on this list. There a lots of local dishes which include goat, cow, chicken, pork, etc. but I won’t be sharing any of those in this post. If that’s something you’re interested in seeing, let me know and I can see what I can do.

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Rice, beans and vegetables

So one if not the most popular dish here in Mwanza and Tanzania is rice, beans, vegetables and often times some form of cooked meat or fish. Especially here in Mwanza, located on Lake Victoria, fish is a regular part of local dishes. I eat rice and beans almost every day at work and after about two weeks, I was pretty much over eating it. Especially since you have to gingerly chew the rice in case there’s the odd rock inside. But because we’re located in an industrial area, the lunch choices are limited to rice, beans and vegetables or nothing.. I could bring my own lunch, but there aren’t any microwaves or fridges to store food so again options are limited. But, most days I really don’t mind eating it. It’s always piping hot and just the right amount of beans and vegetables.

Pilau – a version of rice cooked with spices like cinnamon, clove, ginger, etc.

Bananas are also a common dish here, usually served in some sort of yummy sauce. The bananas aren’t sweet like you’d think, but more of a dull taste with a texture similar to a half boiled potato. I’m not doing it justice – it really is tasty. 

Ugali

Similar to rice, you’ll find ugali in most restaurants that serve local dishes. Both of these plates are from the hotel I lived in for the first 6 weeks I was in Mwanza. Ugali is made with cornmeal and accompanied with beans, vegetables, fish, meat and a red sauce to dip it in. On it’s own, ugali is pretty terrible – it’s a bland play-doh type texture. But with the red sauce or dipped in something, it’s both filling and pretty tasty.  Be prepared to get your hands dirty because like most of the local dishes, this is not eaten with a knife and fork.

*most restaurants have a sink and soap or someone comes around with soap and warm water to wash your hands so there’s no worry about eating food with dirty hands.

Tilapia fish from Lake Victoria – eaten with ugali and the red sauce

Chipsi mayai

Chipsi mayai means fries and eggs. The first time I tried this, I absolutely hated it. I loooove crispy fries so to have them not crispy and cooked in egg was less than appealing. But since the hotel I lived in was very limited in their vegetarian options, after a few days of eating only pasta and samosas, I had to give chipsi mayai another try. Now it’s a regular. Often Eddy and I will make it at home or most stands and restaurants in town and close to work serve this, so I eat it pretty regularly. It is the only other option to have at work beside rice and beans, but I avoid eating it more than one time a week because it’s pretty heavy and makes me sleepy after eating.

Another common way of eating fries is similar to home – on the side. But there is usually a salad of tomatoes, onion, carrot and cucumber with a vinegar taste.

Indian food

Mwanza has a pretty big population of Indian people, so there are a lot of restaurants that serve Indian food. One of my favourite places is a Hindu temple in town that serves lunch every day for 7,000 tsh/~$4.12. It’s all vegetarian, the people are great and there’s always lots of food. But it is always sooo soooo spicy – although I don’t think I’m a fair judge since most minimally spicy food tastes very spicy to me.

Pizza 

This is not a local dish and my co-workers don’t eat this, but I had to include it in this post. Since Mwanza is rather limited in it’s deliverable and affordable non-rice, beans and vegetable food, I almost weekly order pizza from Copenhagen Burgerhouse… the habit has gotten bad. But the pizza is so good! It’s tasty, thin-crust with just the right amount of sauce and actual tasty cheese. I think in the new year I’ll have to make a resolution to not order and eat so much of this pizza. It’s becoming a real problem.

This is a tanzanian type of pizza called “Zanzibar Pizza,” which as you can guess comes from Zanzibar. The guy moved here from Zanzibar, opened a stand and has become pretty successful. It’s vegetables like onion, carrot and cabbage folded into some dough and fried on a pan heated over charcoal fire. It’s usually served with ketchup/tomato sauce and mayonnaise.

Home cooked food

In my opinion, I do find Mwanza to be lacking in their variety and quality of good food. As a result, Eddy and I cook our breakfasts and dinner at home almost every day. Since I’m vegetarian and we’re limited by what’s available here in Mwanza, we’ve gotten into a routine of cooking about 5-10 different meals.

1. Veggie burgers

This is something I regularly eat in Canada, so I shouldn’t be surprised it’s also something I regularly eat here. Luckily the ingredients are easy to find, the vegetables are tasty and it’s a relatively easy thing to cook.

2) Tacos

When I was in Zanzibar, the girls I worked with and I had a few taco nights and since the first night Eddy came and tried tacos, he’s hooked. Any time I ask what he wants to do for dinner, the only two suggestion he every makes is tacos or syrup (stir-fry). But since there are no wraps here in Mwanza, every time it’s a 2+ hour event to make the wraps, the salsa, the refried beans and the guacamole. It’s a labour of love, but a tasty one.

3) Chapati mayai

The wrap is a chapatti and a chapatti mayai is the wrap with cooked eggs on top. I don’t have a picture, but this one shows a night we made cooked vegetables and wrapped them inside the chapatti. Tasty, but definitely not as good as chapatti mayai.

4 & 5) Curry & Stir fry

This is the main meals we rotate through – either curried vegetables and rice or stir-fry (with peanut butter and soya sauce) vegetables and rice.

Bread! 

Mwanza is also lacking in crispy and crunch bread. So I’ve have to take on learning to make a baguette. Finally getting this result took 4 horribly failed tries. But now I think I’ve got it down pat. They’re not as good as the ones from bakeries at home, but they’ve satisfied my cravings enough.

 

I remember before I left for Zanzibar one of my biggest concerns was food – as a vegetarian, what will I eat? will there be options for me? If some how a vegetarian planning to travel to Tanzania comes across this blog with the same concerns as what I said, I can reassure you, you will be fine. You’ll have food to eat and some selection of foods to choose from.

I doubt you’ll find tofu or seitan here in Mwanza, but there is paneer (an indian cottage cheese) and lots of tasty good quality vegetables. Sometimes I miss specific food from home or the convience of being able to order almost anything I’m craving, but that all comes along with living in a different country.

Talk soon,

Laura

P.S. I’m at 70% of my fundraising goal! Thank you so much to everyone for donating and helping me to reach my goal. You can still donate here!

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