Karibu Chakula!

Chapati, ugali, ndizi, chai....flat bread, thick cornmeal porridge, bananas, tea.

Traditional Tanzanian foods....staples of the Tanzanian diet.

Meal preparation is quite a process in Tanzania. Market day is typically once or twice a week, and people often walk for miles to get to the central marketplace.

Firewood must be gathered, and water fetched from the river before the actual meal preparations even begin. A chore for the children, carrying wood or a bucket of water which is balanced precariously on their head as they walk down the dirt path back home.

With no access to electricity, cooking is done outside over open fires -- with jicho (stones) to balance the cooking pot. Women tend to the fire for hours in preparing the food for the day. Dishes are washed with more water, fetched from the river, and heated over the fire. Quite a process...a labor of love, really.

So welcome to the preparation of a Tanzania meal! Karibu chakula!

Enjoy the video...



Be sure to check out the Tanzanian recipes on the right-hand column of the blog. We'd love to hear from those who have tried the ugali, chapati and Tanzanian vegetable stew!

NOTE: If the video does not play correctly here, please visit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ano9mFZAdfc