Tanzania: Myles Carpenter (Food in Morogoro)

Oh my gosh, I am going to miss Tanzanian food. Here in Morogoro “chakula”, which Google Translates to food in English, refers to the staple food you eat for your meal. Examples of chakula are rice, pilau (brown onion rice), ugali (stiff pudding made from corn flour), cooking bananas, and french fries. With chakula, you eat an “mboga”, a usually wet food that helps you swallow and enjoy the chakula.  Google translates mboga to “vegetable”. Examples of an mboga are chicken, beef or fish stew, and beans. Typically, cooked greens accompany the mboga. Some greens I ate were chynisi, pumpkin leaf, and spinach. Finally, many meals include fruit. Fruit is a sweet treat that leaves your mouth tasting good after a big, savory meal. Common fruits, all grown in town, include bananas, mangos, watermelon, papaya, breadfruit, avocado, zambarau, and more.

What I will miss the most is big, hot lunches. In Tanzania, we’d often eat ugali, beans, and chynisi for lunch. In Madison, I eat a pb&j sandwich and trail mix. This habit is convenient, but I would not complain if Madison’s culture grew towards more wholesome, communal lunches.

The first paragraph runs through the traditional lunches and dinners. A missing portion of cuisine is breakfast. The overall strategy for breakfast in Tanzania is the same; eat a staple with a wet food that helps you swallow. Common staples are vitambua (rice bun), mandazi (kinda like a donut), bread, simosas, and chapati. Chapati has two varieties: water chapati, a mix between American pancakes and a crepe, and dry chapati, a blander quickbread. With the staple I usually sipped tea or broth. Some people also enjoyed milk with their bread.

Myles Carpenter

Hometown: Sturtevant, Wisconsin

Major: Computer Sciences; Mathematics

Program: FIEN Foundation Internships