lunedì 10 dicembre 2012


I’m arrived! And I am starving.. the food that is served on airplanes is horrible, I couldn’t get a bite of it! My discovering of this African country will start from a restaurant, I guess. =)



 

Kenya is a country located on the eastern coasts of Africa and its cousin deeply reflects its cultural background. Many dishes are made with food that the Portuguese brought/introduced from Brazil, such as maize, bananas, pineapple, chilies, peppers, sweet potatoes and cassava. The conquerors also brought oranges, lemons, limes and pigs from China and from India; all those products have now become local staples. More contributions to Kenyan agriculture has arrived from others Europeans, such as the British, who brought dishes and spices from India.

Due to its division in many ethnic groups, there is not a national typical dish in Kenya. Most of the communities, however, are nomads and relies on cattle herding (pastoralism). The traditional Kenyan food reflect the multi-racial traits of this society. Most of the dishes are simple and filling, not expensive to make since they consist mainly of corn, maize, potatoes and beans.

People who lives on the coasts rely also on fish and they have a more varied diet; people in the inland eat many cow and goat by-products (meat, milk, cheeses, etc.). rice is a very popular and important food for Kenyan cousin.

Today I was served ugali, which is commonly eaten in all the East Africa Great Lakes region; it is a dish of maize flour, cooked with water to a porridge-like consistency. he traditional method of eating ugali (and the most common in the rural areas) is to roll a lump into a ball with the right hand, and then dip it into a sauce or stew of vegetables or meat. Making a depression with the thumb allows the ugali to be used to scoop, and to wrap around pieces of meat to pick them up in the same way that flat bread is used in other cultures.

Lunch is the main meal of the day. Usually, ugali, rice or potatoes are served on a large dish that everyone can reach, using the right hand, and there are vegetables, meat or fish on the side. Fruit is commonly served in place of sweets.

Even if it is really tasty, due to all the spices that are used, and delicious, Kenyan cousin is rather poor and many children are undernourished because they do not have an adequate nutrition, most of all after the big drought that happened in the last decades.

 




1 commento:

  1. Ineresting Claudia, thanks. In terms of language, be careful, I think you mean 'cuisine', the French word we use in English, rather than 'cousin', which is a relative, nothing related to food! Also watch out for your subject verb agreements.

    RispondiElimina