Tickle Your Taste Buds with Africa’s Culinary Wealth
Most tourist attraction drives and packages aimed at attracting tourists to different destinations in Africa, are built around wildlife, geography, and local cultures of the people therein. Well, it is good to come to Africa, and see the wildlife, geography, and other beautiful and exciting things that this beautiful continent has to offer. Africa is the home of diversity. In different ways, Africa will keep your eyes, and your mind glued to the different things it has to offer. There are a million reasons to visit Africa, wildlife tourism in only one of them.
Well, in more ways than one, Africa is the home of diversity. Not just the geography and wildlife. It is the home of a rich cultural heritage. One major source of diversity in the African continent and its culture, is the food. Africa hosts one of the wealthiest culinary cultures in the world. There is no shortage of meals to tickle your taste buds. Indeed, Mark Wiens a video blogger with migrationlogy.com and Sonny Side of the Best Ever Food Review Show, have given African dishes thumps up and acknowledged the diversity and wealth of Africa’s culinary culture. From Cairo to Cape Town, and Lagos to Djibouti, crossing the breadth and width of Africa, you will be served and get to sample some of the most mouth-watering sumptuous meals.
A lot of time, thought, and love goes into the preparation of most African traditional foods. The food in most African societies was not served indoors, to feed only the nuclear families. It is served and shared with neighbors, visitors, and in large portions. In large platters or banana or plantain leaves. The meals, whether you are in Nigeria, in West Africa, or Zimbabwe in Southern Africa, or Kenya in East Africa, will mostly have starches, such as banana, plantain, cassava, sorghum, millet, arrow roots, or yams, or rice, served with chicken, beef, mutton, fish as animal proteins, or plant proteins, such as beans or black beans.
To balance the diet, most African traditional or local communities serve large portions of vegetables, greens, freshly picked from the farms or the wild. They can easily tell what is and is not edible. Don’t be afraid of being served poisonous wild vegetables. The meals are served in communal platters, and in most of the communities, since they did not have cutlery traditionally, the people will just dig in. However, important to note, hygiene is a key factor, with the people going through a thorough hand washing practice before sitting at the table…..or rather, around the platter. The food is mostly either grilled, baked, or stewed. Rarely fried, so you do not have to worry about your cholesterol levels.
When you visit any of African country, you do not have to go deep into the jungle to enjoy the African traditional cuisine. It is now available as street food or in specialized or even in the five star hotels in the country you visit. For example, the boerewors, as commonly referred to in South African countries, and served on the streets grilled, are also available in other countries, such as Kenya, where they are referred to as “mutura”. Sonny Side and Mark Wiens in their shows, have been impressed by these foods. I am sure you will be impressed too. When making that itinerary and travel plans, next time, please include, in your to-do list, to purpose to sample at least one African traditional cuisine in the destination you visit. Thank me later.
Article by Dana Ochia
Sources: Afrotourism ; Tucantravel ; Worldchefstour
