The typical food taken in Tanzania includes Ugali, Mshikaki, Zanzibar pizza, and chemo. Tanzanian typical staple food is ugali due to its affordability and ease of cooking. It is prepared by boiling water, then mix the boiled water with maize flour and simmer while stirring till it reaches a dough-like consistency. It is then left for about three to five minutes before it’s ready to be eaten (World in My Pocket, 2022). The ugali is eaten by breaking off a chunk and mashing it into a small piece dipping it into one’s stew or main dish, and popping it into the mouth. Ugali can be served with any main dish, although it is popularly taken with mchuzi (a stew or soup) or grilled meat, popularly known as Nyama Choma.
Ishigaki is known to be a street food that is often served outside nightclubs and at night in the open-air bars. Ishigaki is a skewered piece of marinated meat cooked over open coals cooked at a slow pace (World in My Pocket, 2022). Its most popular meat is either goat, mutton or beef, although other varieties of meat can be found in the recipe. Ishigaki grilling is often simmered, and the slow cooking is what makes mshikaki have an elegant flavour and makes it all worth it.
The Zanzibar pizza draws its name and recipe from Zanzibar Island. A sheet of dough is the first placed in the recipe and then filled with peppers, onions, raw egg, meat from either fish, goat, mutton, or beef, and sometimes a slice of cheese may be placed in it. All the ingredients placed are then wrapped in a sandwiched size pocket and placed on a pan to fry in an oiled paddle. The outcome will be a sizeable dumping-like square of deliciousness that is chewy and crispy.
Mchemsho is an exceptional cuisine in the country that is prepared by boiling meat with other ingredients, which include chopped onions, crushed ginger, salt and pepper, and water, where enough broth is kept for a soup-like texture in the outcome (World in My Pocket, 2022). Potatoes and bananas are cooked in a different pan with a large size chopped onion, garlic and tomato. The cooked bananas and potatoes are added to the meat mix once it is softened. The mix is then stirred together and served while hot.
