Going local on street food

Food vendors have a certain subtlety in how they conduct their operations. No matter the town or city, you will find them by the roadside with their foodstuffs attractively spread out in a manner that is designed to tempt you to indulge.

You tell yourself it won’t be hygienically prepared, but when you finally give in and help yourself, you rarely regret it (well, some unfortunate few do).
Besides, it is the easiest way to sample local cuisine when in a foreign land.

A few weeks ago, I visited Tanzania, then Malawi and sampled an array of street food.

Zanzibar island, which lies some 35km off the coast of mainland Tanzania, left me with fond memories. This is one place you can spoil yourself to the limit when it comes to street food. At night, the market comes alive with vendors selling all sorts of foods and drinks. The choice is as endless as the ocean surrounding this Indian Ocean island.

A juice made from a relative of the passion fruit known in Kiswahili as ngunzi, is popular here. Vendors squeeze it from the fruit into plastic buckets and throw in some ice cubes to cool it.

Forodhani Gardens on the western shores of Stone Town, a World Heritage Site, is a must visit. Here, you will find all kinds of seafood. The vendors marinate it in coastal spices then roast it over an open fire. Your job is to take your pick, pay and enjoy the meal.

Lobsters are well-liked. They are a deep red shade due to the spices used. I’ve heard it said that lobsters taste like chicken; but going by what I experienced, I think those who say so have it backwards. Chicken tastes like lobster. Or, to be more precise, chicken is a poor substitute for lobster.

Then there is the octopus, which is quite a chewy dish. You have to bite through with patience. As for the prawns, you will first need to get the exoskeleton off before indulging. Good thing is, it comes off easily and you don’t have to watch out for fish bones. Octopus goes down well with coconut bread.

Back in Dar es Salaam, there’s a thick drink that is sold late into the night. Blended from passion fruit, pears, paw paws, mangoes, oranges as well as watermelon and garnished with whole groundnuts, it is the most complete fruit drink I have ever tasted.

Mshikakis — marinated pieces of roast meat on skewers — are sold all over Tanzania. From the moment you cross the border, you will meet scores of people eating them. I tasted some made from tender pieces of goat meat served with roasted matooke and freshly made tomato sauce. This meal is popular among visiting Kenyans.

Simplicity can be divine; which is how I would describe chips mayai. In the simplest of descriptions, it is an omelette. The chips or French fries are prepared separately. In a bowl, the eggs are beaten together with diced tomatoes and onions. The mixture is then poured into the chips in a shallow pan and fried.

Another border crossing and I was in Malawi. Here, Ugali, a maize meal staple in East Africa, is called Nsima, only that it is softer and stickier than what I am used to in Kenya.

In Malawi, they like to fry their street food. The streets are lined with metal tables with a hollow centre. In this hollow, oil is heated from below to fry the meat. Once it is cooked, it is taken out using a fork and placed on the table. The frying is done throughout the day, which causes the oil to turn brown from overheating. This is not a pleasant sight at all. But it’s better not to think about it otherwise chances are that you will not enjoy your meal, or even end up not eating at all.

Chips and chips and more chips. Malawi seems to survive on chips. There are chips on the streets and chips in the shops. Go to fancy restaurants and they will offer you chips. Go to eateries frequented by tourists, and you will find chips. Chips are so common that when I asked a Malawian what local food I could try, he quickly mentioned nsima and chips. The potatoes are cut just right, not too big, not too small. You would think they were handpicked from the farm. They are fried to a near perfect crisp golden yellow.

If fried food is not your thing, roast chicken is a good alternative. The pieces sold on the streets are huge and scrumptious. They go well with kachumbari — a salad of tomatoes and onions and sometimes green pepper. After the meal, dessert is available just a few steps away.

I tried some strawberries that were as red and tempting as they appear in most pictures I have seen.

If you are buying food while in transit, take note that in Malawi, buses stop for just about five minutes or thereabouts. So expect a sleight of hand tricks as vendors swiftly wrap the food in paper bags then shove it towards your window, alongside your change.

Back in Nairobi, I can’t help but think that if I were new here, the one delicacy worth writing about would be mutura or “African sausage” — cooked diced meat stuffed in the membrane of a cow’s intestines — and roasted.