Cuisine in Kenya

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.