As I leave Africa, I am still in a reflective mood – the smell of grilled maize; a freshly lit charcoal stove; the pungent smell of fish drying in the baking sun; meat skewers from a roadside stall; the sticky skins of a perfectly ripe mango or the salty and the spicy perfection of berbere…
Category: Africa
An African welcome
If I went up to someone in England and asked if I could go to their home and they showed me how to cook shepherd’s pie, what would their reaction be? Would they laugh in my face and tell me to piss off? or would they welcome me into their kitchen? My friends and I were having…
Husna’s Biryani
Husna Azzan is a great cook. I know this because I was lucky enough to stumble past her house one night and try her urojo, or Zanzibar mix, which her son Ahmed was selling to passers-by from a stall outside their house. After trying the urojo and talking to Ahmed about his mother’s cooking, I…
Octopus Soup
A sure sign we must be nearing the coast is when I step off the bus in Mbeya and see a group of men standing over a table eating and talking animatedly. It’s dark by now and just one bright bulb suspended from a broom stick lights up a rickety wooden table, which on closer…
Moba and Afro’s Swahili Prawns with Coconut Rice
Nine months into the trip and we’ve hit the Tanzanian coast, hallelujah! The wait rewards us with coconut fringed white sand beaches and layer upon layer of crystal blue water, the kind of beaches you see on billboards in London tube stations when it’s pissing it down with rain and has been dark since 3…
Susan’s Tofu Burgers
Simple but delicious and healthy recipe for vegan tofu burgers.
People I Meet and Food They Eat 