Kenya Cuisine: Traditional Food and Popular Dishes
Kenya’s Cuisine
The varied cultural influences in Kenya are seen most prevalently in the country’s cuisines. Only on the coast will you discover a distinctive regional culinary style. On your Kenya safari, you’ll find that many of the foods are simple yet often quite heavy and starchy and include potatoes and rice.
You can enjoy some traditional foodstuffs during one of our Kenya tours, including:
Ugali: a cornmeal dough, usually served with chicken, beef, goat or vegetable stew
Irio: mashed green peas and potato, with corn kernels
Githeri: boiled beans, corn kernels, mixed vegetables and seasoning
Wali Wa Nazi: white rice with grated coconut, served with fresh fish/chicken curry or vegetables and popular along the coastline of the Indian Ocean
Sukuma Wiki: collard greens or kale, cooked in oil with diced tomatoes, onions, and seasoned with mchuzi mix – a secret Kenyan food flavoring salt
Matoke: plantain/banana stew (originally from Uganda)
Mutura: a real Kenyan sausage – goat intestine wrappers stuffed with ground meat parts and goat blood, boiled and then grilled. This is a must-try for the adventurous gastronome!
Nyama Choma: roasted/grilled feast of mutton, goat or beef
With a strong Indian influence, it is not unusual to enjoy curries, chapatis (flatbread), pilau, samosa and bajias (seasoned, deep-fried vegetables/potatoes served with chutneys).
During your private Kenya safari, you’ll find that generally most dishes are prepared in European style. Camps and lodges in the parks and game reserves take guests on a full board basis or fully inclusive, therefore all the meals are provided.
Top Kenya Travel Tips – Cuisine:
As the weather in East Africa can be hot and dry and you will be doing various activities during the day we advise you to drink as much water as possible to prevent dehydration during our Kenya tours. We advise our guests against taking water directly from the taps, streams or rivers. Particularly near residential areas the water can contain pathogens. We recommend that you buy water from major shopping outlets.
The Enchanting Travels team is happy to help you plan private and luxurious safari experiences for the most unique Kenya tours.
At Enchanting Travels, our private, custom tours are built on extensive knowledge of our destinations, an outstanding team of professionals, and personalized top-notch service. Our work is consistently recognized by prestigious organizations across the travel industry. In 2023, we received the Travel Weekly Magellan Gold Award for World’s Leading Tour Operator- Overall, the LUXLife Magazine Award for Best Global Custom Travel Company, a World Travel Award for North America’s Leading Tour Operator, and a World Luxury Travel Award for Bespoke Experience Travel Agency (Global Winner). You can see all our past awards and current accreditations here.
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We just returned from an outstanding 3-week trip to East Africa. Our travel consultant did an outstanding job of putting together this trip for a friend and me. Everything went as smooth as glass. We saw an extraordinary number of animals and the accommodations were even better than pictured. Our personal guides were enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and kind, even assisting with all our check-ins. Every transport worked seamlessly. It was a great experience, we highly recommend Enchanting Travels!
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We made a family trip to Africa (Tanzania and Kenia) to celebrate my 50th Birthday. From day 1, Alison was great in understanding us and providing some great recommendations. She and Bovin (our local contact) made this trip a dream come true. They were always attentive, gave recommendations and heard all of our desires. When we had a question, they would have a quick answer. Thank you both for making this an amazing and unforgettable trip.
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February 2025
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From the advice we got from Peter when we booked our trip to the excellent execution of the details that Cyprian did, there was not a hitch. We were met by professionals who ushered us through customs and checked us into our flights. The itinerary was packed with memorable experiences of seeing animals, getting to know the people at the tent camps who were more attentive than we could have imagined. The tents were exceptionally clean, beds comfortable, the food outstanding and our overall experience was beyond our expectations. We could not have imagined going on this trip without Enchanting Travels and consider ourselves fortunate that we chose you.
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February 2025
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The trip was planned perfectly from beginning to the end. We were notified of any changes to the schedule based on delayed flights etc. It is a real advantage to have Enchanting Travels make the arrangements that allowed us to speed through customs and visa checks. Our drivers were always there waiting for our arrival so no time wasted waiting. Just the ease of the logistics that comes with traveling with Enchanting Travels keeps up going back to them when we are planning a trip. The experiences were beyond words. Our game drive guides were exceptional in getting us to where the animals were so we could enjoy seeing cheetah cubs at play while mom watched, lion cubs playing while a group of lioness’s napped in the sun and two male lions did the same. The most incredible sight was watching a group of 6 lioness’s separate a female buffalo and her calf and going on to taking them both down. It was like watching a Nat Geo film but we were there within 30 yards to watch. Our accommodations were top notch, staff everywhere we were were exceptional, and the settings were all different but wonderful. Our trip coordinator was in constant contact just to check in and see if there was anything we needed her to do. The Trip Agent App, our first time using it, was a very nice feature and was so much easier to use rather than pulling out a hard copy of the trip to find the answer to our questions. I wasn’t sure if I would use it or not but became dependent on it. Traveling doesn’t get any better if you travel with Enchanting Travels. We will be back!
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January 2025
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August 2024
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I have been fortunate enough to have traveled all over the world. I was able to live in two European countries and all over the United States of America. This is the first time that I have ever traveled with Enchanting Travels. From the very start their representatives were focused on understanding exactly what I wanted out of my trip. Once it was understood, I was given multiple options to look at and choose from to further narrow down, my exact needs. After all the choices were made, and the trip was paid for, everything, and I mean everything was taken care of. A knowledgeable representative met me at every plane, hotel, or vehicle, to make sure I was taken to the proper place and treated like a king. The flights, accommodations and ground travel vehicles were all clean, comfortable, and more than I could ask for. I had no worries throughout my trip. All I had to do was sit back and enjoy! It was a trip of a lifetime! They planned and executed everything perfectly. There was not a single hitch! I will, without a doubt use them again! If you would like to travel and leave the detailing to someone else, I highly recommend this group. A job well done.
Paleontologists believe that Kenya was the first inhabited place on earth! With our travel tips, discover Kenya’s diverse heritage from indigenous people to invasions, on a custom Kenya vacation.
Discover a melting pot of people where traditions and modernity go hand in hand. From the Samburu people to the Maasai and Nairobi’s thriving culture, this is Kenya.
Kenya is divided by the equator and is characterized by a tropical climate. The best time for your Kenya vacation depends on what you wish to do in Kenya. Follow the link for more information on Kenya.
