Food & Daily life
City life
As in many African countries, there is a contrast between urban and rural life. Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, is the largest city in East Africa and acts as the region’s busy commercial hub. Here, global influences combine with local in the shops and markets, restaurants, nightclubs and cinemas.
But urban life is by no means uniform. There are, for example, cultural differences; Kenya’s second city, Mombasa, is mainly Muslim, with the call to prayer ringing out five times a day from its many mosques and head-to-foot buibuis (for women) or kanzu gowns (for men) commonly worn.
Getting around
In this video... How do you get around in Kenya? Well most take the bus, or hop on the back of a motorcycle for one dollar. It is the cheapest and most convenient way to get around. Be warned, it is not always on time. Sometimes you have to wait two hours for the bus.There is also a huge gap between rich and poor city-dwellers. A middle-class home would typically have two bedrooms, a living area and bathroom and kitchen with indoor plumbing. However, two-thirds of Nairobi’s 3.5 million citizens live in slums, where typical houses consist of one small room (around three metres square) with no electricity, running water or sanitation – in the largest shanty town of Kibera, one pit latrine can be used by up to 500 people
Rural living
Three-quarters of Kenyans still live in rural areas. Traditional lifestyles in the countryside revolve around subsistence farming and trips to local markets and shopping centres. However, the modern-day world is also present; mobile cinemas provide entertainment and Kenyans rely on their mobile phone.
Wood-powered stoves are mostly used to cook food, though alternatives are being encouraged to reduce deforestation. A staple dish prepared on these stoves is ugali (a stiff cornmeal porridge), served with meat (chicken, goat or beef), fish or vegetable stews (e.g. beans and spinach).
Typical meal
In this video… Discover what a typical Kenyan meal looks like. A Kenyan lady talks about the traditional foods eaten in Kenya. She talks about how it is prepared and when certain foods are eaten.Snacks include samosas and chapattis (reflecting the Indian influence over Kenyan cooking), roasted corncobs and mandaazi, a semi-sweet flatbread usually made early and eaten warm for breakfast or cold later in the day. Kenyans also enjoy miniature kebabs and their idea of a feast is a huge pile of nyama choma, or barbequed meat.
A good brew
Kenya is a major producer of tea and coffee, though coffee is mostly instant and not as popular as tea or Chai, which is drunk throughout the day. Most Kenyans brew their tea with milk and lots of sugar, serving it scalding hot and very sweet.
Lager is also popular in Kenya, with local brands made using cornstarch and sugar, as well as the more traditional ingredients of water, malt and hops. Despite a host of laws, home brewing remains popular with pombe or bush brews varying according to local ingredients. Mnazi or palm wine is also a favourite drink along the coast where coconuts grow and another type of palm (the doum palm) provides a different variety called mukoma. In the cities though, illicit spirits can literally be lethal, so avoid mugs of chang’aa.
