What is the best way you can think of to meet someone? In my opinion, sharing a meal opens people up and allows for friendly and comfortable conversation. When we travel, it can be difficult to scratch the surface of a place and I often wonder how I can go deeper and learn more about the culture. So we decided to give travelers to Kenya that same opportunity by offering them the option of enjoying lunch or dinner with a Kenyan family.
We met Patrick, Joy* and their two children several years ago. Having worked on the fringes of tourism for about ten years, Patrick was looking for a way to stay in the industry but also to be there for his young family. Despite his modest living conditions, he was very proud of his wife’s cooking and came up with the idea of inviting travelers to see the “real Kenya” and share a meal with him and the family. of the. This would allow the family to earn a small income while he fulfills his goals of spending time with his family and working with tourists. On the first visit, another benefit became apparent: his children had the opportunity to play with the visitors’ children, giving all the children the opportunity to learn from each other.
a typical family
A lower-class Kenyan family typically lives in a one- or two-bedroom apartment or unit. Curtains act as walls to divide a room into a living room and a bedroom. The living room is to the front and visitors are rarely invited beyond it. The wife spends much of her time in the kitchen and brings out pots of steaming food for her husband and her guests. The kitchen may have a gas bottle with a burner to quickly boil water and one or two “jikos”, which are small stoves that fit in a pot and use charcoal. Bathrooms are usually shared among all residents of the building. The toilet will be a cubicle with a hole in the concrete leading down to a large pit. The ‘shower’ is a cubicle with a small hole in the corner that acts as a drain and residents take their own bucket of water to wash (there is no shower or tap). There is typically no plumbing in these buildings, so residents buy their water in jerrycans. Given the lack of space indoors, children often spend most of their time playing outdoors. Many families have chickens running around the yard, used primarily for meat on a special occasion.
Each tribe in Kenya has its own traditional food. Joy prepares a selection of dishes from different tribes to give visitors a good taste of Kenya, including:
- Githeri – a bean and corn stew
- Plátano – green plantains boiled and then fried with tomato and onion
- Rice
- Mukimo – mashed potato mixed with pumpkin leaves and corn
- Tilapia: fish from the freshwater lakes of Kenya
- Chapatti – flatbread originating from India (Kenya has a large Indian population which has influenced the cuisine)
- chicken stew
- Zikuma wiki – kale
- Ugali – cornmeal mixed with water to make a polenta-style dish
- cabbage
- sweet potatoes
- fruit for dessert
In Kenyan tradition, when visiting friends or relatives, the etiquette is to bring gifts. These are probably not what Westerners would normally consider gifts; rather we take cornmeal, tea, sugar, rice and other basic foods. If there are children in the house, you can also bring pens, pencils and exercise books and maybe some candy.
Kenyans traditionally eat with their hands, so hygiene is very important. The wife will prepare some warm water and bring it in a pitcher with a bowl, soap and a towel for each guest. She pours the water over your hands so you can wash yourself and then she offers you the washcloth or towel. As I mentioned earlier, there is no running water in most homes, so it is often a bit of a surprise to visitors when they are introduced to this method of handwashing. There are plenty of stews on the menu, so you might think eating with your hands will be too much of a hassle, but there are two key dishes that can act as spoons: ugali and chapatti. The chapatti is clear as it is a flatbread that can be rolled into a ball. Ugali has such a consistency that it can also be formed into a ball.
It can take a bit of time to get used to Kenyan food. The meat tends to be a bit tough and the corn tends to be a bit bland. Ugali isn’t my personal favorite, but it’s not designed to be eaten on its own; it’s meant to be eaten with a sauce or stew and that’s where it gets its flavor. Kenyans don’t use many spices in their cooking: salt and maybe chicken or beef bouillon cubes add flavour. But the vegetables are fresh, they haven’t been in cold storage for months like we often get in the west, so you get all the flavors of the food you’re eating.
Guests often have mixed reactions during their visit. Entering the complex for the first time and then entering the house, there is definitely some trepidation as it is quite a different way of life than what we are used to. There is also uncertainty about how to react if the food turns out to be inedible. And then there is relief when fish, rice, chicken, mashed potatoes and cabbage are introduced. It may cook a little differently, but it’s recognizable and definitely edible! As the conversation flows, guests relax into their surroundings. The children play outside together and at the end of the meal there are pleas from the children that they want to continue playing. Friendships are formed, connections are made, and bonding over a shared meal leaves everyone with the warmth that comes from being with other humans. Despite the nerves at first, all of our guests have left this experience with positivity and believe it was a key part of their entire Kenyan safari.
If you would like to share a meal with a Kenyan family as part of your safari adventure, please email [email protected].
*these are not their real names