Hunger... What's there to eat

Some of you wanted to know about the food. Food is a recurring topic for us here. We have even played the game 'City, Country, River' in a modified version. So there is a category 'Food'. And whoever can convince the others that their food is the best, gets 20 points instead of 10 (5 points in case of multiple mentions). We don't have everything here that we know from Germany, for example. Well then: Basically, every travel guide tells you what delicacies there are in Tanzania. But I will focus on the food we eat here on site. Of course, this is only an excerpt, I don't want to bore you.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner

For breakfast, we always have scrambled eggs, chapati or andazi, fruit, and tea in our house. Chapati is shaped like a pancake, but tastes completely different. It reminds me a little of naan (Indian flatbread). The andazi are fried dough balls. They remind me a little of greasy Berliner doughnuts (in Bavaria they are called Krapfen), which are freshly taken out of the oil bath. The fruit here tastes very delicious because everything is freshly picked in the area. There are small bananas, papayas or oranges, and today, for a change, watermelon (two girls bought it here). We don't have coffee directly in our house. The coffee drinkers add instant coffee powder to the tea depending on the strength of the tea. It is probably due to the lack of a thermos flask that there is no hot water. If you want something else, you have to buy it yourself or the whole community. But I deliberately abstained from Nutella.

For lunch, we have maize porridge every day, called ugali, with spinach or salad. Sometimes, thanks to the other volunteers here in the house, there is more variety. They buy potatoes and vegetables at the market and cook something themselves. These are the culinary highlights for us volunteers here in Tanzania. In the evening, we have alternating rice with beans/vegetables or spaghetti with sauce.

Eating out

In the last two weeks, I have also eaten out more often or someone brings food from the city for us. Here, the decision often falls on chipsi mayai (potato slices baked with egg). I have also had pizza twice, which is quite expensive compared to other food here. So chipsi mayai cost around 3000 TSH (about 1.20 euros), while pizza costs six times as much. But it tastes really good and is a welcome change.

In addition, Tembo, Stan, and the other volunteers here have often cooked Pilau. Here, rice, vegetables, sometimes beans, and of course, some spices are heated in a pot. The result is always fantastic (see picture). And for 10 euros, 20 people will get full.

Finally, it should be added that people here love spicy food. The good thing is that the spicy sauce or the sliced chili strips are served separately and everyone can make their food spicy.

What is little or not available here

Here in Tanzania, I can often see meat, but it is eaten less. Since many Muslims live here, pigs are rather rare. Most of the time, goats or chickens are eaten. And of course, you can't buy or eat lean schnitzel or fillet pieces here. The few times I had them, they always had bones, cartilage, fat, and a little meat.

Milk is also rare. For example, Fundi specifically goes to the village to drink milk there. But you can buy milk in the supermarket in the packaging that we Europeans are used to. Unfortunately, all cheese lovers here in Mtwara and the surrounding area have to do without cheese. I'm doing fine with that.