Food & drink in Kenya

Centuries of nomadic cattle-herding tradition among Maasai communities mean that meat dishes dominate Kenyan cuisine. The sizzle of beef on the grill welcomes you back into camp from your game drive and never fails to draw a hungry crowd in a Nairobi market. But Kenyan food is perhaps surprisingly diverse, thanks particularly to its 500km of Indian Ocean coastline.

For centuries, traders from Arab, Portuguese, Persian and Indian city-states spread their culture and cuisines among the Swahili communities they encountered, and that, along with migration, colonialism and tourism, has led to plenty of intriguing dishes that have the capacity to surprise you when visiting Kenya. Our cultural vacations that take in the capital, Nairobi, and Swahili towns are the perfect way to explore them.

The British Empire also had a significant influence on food in Kenya, beginning with trade and continuing with a brutal period of colonisation in the 20^th century. From 1895 many Indians arrived in Kenya from the British Raj to administer British interests, notably the Uganda Railway which required vast amounts of experienced labour. As Punjabi labourers ventured deep into the interior, they brought along their food culture with them, hence the prevalence of chapatis and samosas in many parts of Kenya.

Another remnant of the British Empire in Kenya is teatime – chai is served throughout the day. And Kenya has exceptionally good coffee, too. Usually the arabica variety, it’s known for bold, tangy flavours, often with fruity and floral notes.

Depending on when you visit, on our tailor made vacations you may be able to tie in a food festival. In May you can browse stalls and feast at the Nairobi Street Food Festival, while October sees the capital welcome AFMASS Food and Drink Festival, a huge event showcasing pan-African cuisine. The Nyama Choma Festival celebrates Kenya’s culture of grilling meats, while the Lamu Cultural Festival, held on Lamu Island 240km off the coast of Mombasa, is a great opportunity to explore Swahili cuisine.

Most visitors to Kenya head to its parks and reserves for safari, or to relax on the idyllic beaches strung along the coast. But as Africa enjoys a tourism boom, cities like Nairobi and Mombasa are increasingly being seen as destinations in themselves, which is helping innovative culinary scenes, as well as other aspects of culture, to flourish.

“Nairobi is interesting for food, especially nyama choma (grilled meat) joints,” says Chantal Potgieter, founder of our partner Themba Travel. “They have music and you get to choose from a variety of meats like goat, pork and chicken. At other joints we have chapatis, boiled eggs called mayai gonga (you will definitely see these as street food) and doughnuts.”

Nyama choma, meaning ‘grilled meat’ in Swahili, is another staple dish in Kenya and especially in herding communities. In most cases the meat is beef, but you will also find goat and chicken among your options. The meat is seasoned with salt and then slow cooked over hot coals. It might be served with ugali, collard greens known as sukuma wiki or kachumbari, a tangy tomato and onion salad. Another vegetable dish is mukimo, where green vegetables are mashed together with potato.

Any Kenyan will remember githeri, a one-pot stew of beans, potato and corn in a tomatoey gravy, from school. Easy, healthy and inexpensive to cook in large quantities, it’s a natural for canteen menus, but you’ll find hearty bowls of the stuff in markets or roadside stalls. Another one-pot special is a stew made from green bananas known as matoke, often in a beef sauce.

Indian food such as chapatis, samosas and pilau masala is particularly common on the Swahili coast, while chai, often flavoured with herbs and spices, is served at any hour, but particularly at breakfast. Speaking of the first meal of the day, a typical Kenyan breakfast pastry is mandazi, deep-fried like a doughnut and infused with coconut and cardamom – absolutely delicious.

You’ll get a lot of fish dishes around Lake Victoria, and on the coast where large game fish like marlin, wahoo (wahoo!) and tuna are likely candidates. Wash them down with a fresh tamarind juice, or a bottle of Tusker – one of Kenya’s favorite beers.

Kenyan cuisine is sometimes portrayed as simple and bland, but that does it a disservice. While it may use fewer spices and seasoning than some cuisines, the food in Kenya is a fascinating blend of cultural influences, particularly in coastal areas where elements of Arab, Indian and European cuisine intermingle.

Coastal food is dominated by seafood of course and is where you’ll tend to find the most complex flavours, while inland the diet is meat-heavy, a testament to traditional herding lifestyles. Beef, goat and chicken are the most common, but at some restaurants such as the (in)famous Carnivore in Nairobi, you can try ostrich and even crocodile.

Kenyan food is rarely spicy, though you will find dishes with a kick along the Swahili coast where the influence of Indian and Portuguese traders can be felt. If you do prefer a bit of heat, you can always bring along a bottle of your favorite hot sauce.

You can get decent vegetarian food in Kenya. Don’t expect anything too exciting, but vegetarian and vegan travelers can get by without much difficulty. Typical dishes you can expect to find in restaurants include collard greens, the ubiquitous ugali, githeri – a maize and bean stew, chapatis and samosas, and mandazi, which is fried bread. A lot of street food is also vegetarian. If you’re going on one of our Kenya safaris, just let our tour operator partner know in advance about any dietary requirements you have, as most can be accommodated.

On safari you’ll generally enjoy a mix of traditional Kenyan food and international cuisine, steadily growing in quality depending on how luxurious you go. Most visitors to Kenya are either making for a safari or the coast, where it’s mostly fish and seafood. But increasingly people are choosing to spend time in cities like Nairobi and Mombasa, where there are thriving culinary and street food scenes worth exploring.