Kenyan cuisine

Food is important to me. There's not much I don't like about food. So when the type and quantity of food I am able to eat is restricted, I turn from a food enthusiast to a food obsessive. So here is a blog all about Kenyan food.

In the morning, the kids have tea for breakfast. We have tried many times to persuade them we should spend the money on porridge instead but they have none of it. They are determined that they have sweet kenyan tea (brewed with loads of sugar) with loads of sugar as their morning  intake.

As a result, I nip over the road to a little shack by the factory and grab a bag of mendazi for 20KES (about 15p). They're like doughnut-type things and you get five in a bag. I have managed to eat all five in one go, which left me in quite a lot of pain but was pretty enjoyable.

Lunch at the center is githeri - maize and beans in a soupy kind of thing. It's pretty uninteresting but hey, it's protein. Dinner is ugali - which is made from maize flour - and is sort of like a palenta-type substance. We have it with cabbage or kale (althernate day). Thankfully it gets quite addictive, which is just as well when you eat it every day.

I'm very grateful that I bascially enjoy any food and the only thing I draw the line at is beetroot (not come across any beetroot in Kenya) as it makes eating the same, tasteless food every day much easier. However, I spent the last six months in England eating fantastic food - including a final meal at a delicious chinese featuring crispy fried fillet steak. It was a long way to fall. I blame Griff...

As a result, I've found that I've turned into one of those grim westeners who go to a different country and only want to eat their own rubbish food. I crave burgers, pizzas, big blocks of processed cheese, chunks of stodgy bread and potatoes. However, my occasional treats are more general on the healthy side as the one food stuff that is amazing in Kenya is fruit. Kenyan mangoes at the most delicious mangoes I've ever had. They're 20KES each, really big, really juicy and completely amazing and to be honest make the endless days of ugali totally bearable....