Do you remember asking about what people ate in Kenya? Well, here’s what I found out!

First, although there is a serious shortage of food in the countryside areas, people in Kenya really love eating; they eat an enormous amount, very fast! There are 3 meals each day and snacks (or sweets) in-between are a rare treat! Except in hotels, you don’t usually get puddings.

Because there isn’t much electricity, many people cook in big pots (called sufurias, like witches’ cauldrons) balanced on three stones over burning branches which are pushed in as the flames creep along them. This means most of the food you get has to be able to be cooked then kept hot while you do the next pot.

It’s a Kenyan custom always to make more food than you need – then, when you have an unexpected guest, you have enough for them, too. This habit, together with the fact that you can’t keep the food for long because the weather is so hot, means you often see the same thing turning up, slightly changed, for the next meal!

In many homes, you get just one plate and one mug for all meals – no cutlery…use your fingers! Everyone adds tons of sugar and salt to just about everything they eat or drink and covers most things with either tomato ketchup or chilli sauce!

For breakfast (usually between 5-7am), you often get delicious, very fresh fruit (pineapple, mango, water melon, paw-paw or bananas). There is also juice, but this is always wishy-washy, watered down stuff, a bit like orange squash. Nearly everyone eats eggs, which are fried (solid) on both sides, together with either bread (which is strangely sweet and always sold sliced) or mandaazi (hot, crispy, triangular- shaped, plain doughnutty things - delicious). Some places give you a sort of banana, tomato and onion stew – it tastes a lot better than it sounds (stewed banana tastes surprisingly like potato)!

There is usually chai (Kenyan tea) to drink. Chai is tasty and refreshing; it’s made by putting tea leaves together with milk, water and sugar in a big kettle. The kettle is then boiled over the open fire for some time then the chai is poured, through a sieve to catch the leaves, into mugs.

Little children get milk to drink (if the cow has produced enough) and / or porridge.

Lunch (about 12 midday) is usually some kind of stew. The meat can be beef, lamb, goat or chicken but it’s not always easy to tell! The stew doesn’t have a lot of meat in it, and what there is, is pretty chewy but it’s cooked for ages so the gravy is very tasty!

Most people eat this with ugali (made from corn flour and water – like a lump of hot, solid porridge) though you may get chapattis, rice or spaghetti (called “spaget”).

There is always some kind of vegetable; most common is called sikuma wiki (in this country, we call it cow-kale, I think, and only cows eat it) - it’s a bit like spinach which is also quite common. Cabbages and beans are other common choices. There’s also mchicha (traditional African herbs) which, I’m told, is basically any green leaves that you can find that aren’t poisonous – they reckon it’s very good for you…almost like a medicine.

Mostly, the vegetables are chopped and fried together with onions making them much nicer than greens in England!

Kenyans laugh about sikuma wiki – the name means “push the week” and comes from the fact the lots of people get paid on Fridays and spend their money on meat. This means they haven’t much left to feed the family on for the rest of the time so use cheap, not all that nice, sikuma wiki to “push” the days by until Friday and meat comes again!

There’s also a lovely tomato and onion salad called katchumbari (don’t know if that is spelled right). There’s a clever way of salting and washing the onion so it ends up tasting very mild, almost sweet.

Near the coast, or the lakes, you may get fish, but don’t get too excited! My worst meal was a huge fish, complete with head, tail, fins and bones that tasted like (I imagine) a newly cleaned shoe – oily and leathery! Served with a massive heap of (unusually) soggy spinach and a mountain of ugali, it was truly disgusting!

Most hotels, and some cafes (especially in the cooler, higher parts of the country where root vegetables like carrots and potatoes can grow) serve chips, which come in mountainous amounts and are considered a great treat – never leave the ones you can’t eat, take them home in a bag – someone will love them!

Have another cup of chai!

Supper (about 6-7pm) is pretty much the same as lunch though it can also be a sort of thick porridge of beans and maize - Pure. There’s a type of bean stew – Pojo – which is a pretty revolting colour but it’s always very filling especially served with rice! Then there’s Boboli which is really just a variation on Ugali – perhaps a bit thicker, or a bit runnier – depends on the local recipe. Another option can be maize (what I call sweet-corn). Sometimes it’s boiled so it looks like giant rice-krispies or roasted so each bit tastes like a boiled sweet! You finish off with another cup of chai, or as a treat, some cocoa – often made with just water and lots of sugar.

The rare snack treat is plain, rectangular biscuits – you can get them in England, I think they call them shortcake biscuits here – together with very watery, very sweet orange squash! You can get “cakes” for special occasions – they are just thicker pieces of bread with various colours in them to look exciting! We were given really yummy sausages as a special, Valentine’s Day treat and, in hotels, they were also on the breakfast menu.

The favourite sweet seems to be a large, brightly-coloured lollipop thing – a bit like a gob-stopper on a stick – don’t know what it tastes like, I never tried!

I spent a lot of my time helping prepare the food so now you know as much as me – sorry I haven’t got pictures of it all!