Food in Kenya!

I have been living in Kenya for over 2 weeks now and I have been able to try all different yummy foods, some new, some familiar. One thing that is different in Kenya is that besides breakfast, lunch and dinner, we have a fourth meal called Tea. We drink tea or coffee and maybe have a snack, like a little donut called a mandazi. They’re so good! Tea is at about 5pm. My host-mom will make the tea for me and put it in a big thermos. She uses Kenyan tea which is like English breakfast tea, and she mixes it with sugar and fresh milk from a cow up the road! Every day we have tea with fresh cow's milk and I think it is the best milk I have ever tasted. In Kenya, this kind of milk is even cheaper than buying it from a store.

For breakfast we have tea or coffee and maybe eggs or toast and some fruit. Has anyone ever tried papaya? We eat a LOT of papaya in Kenya, sometimes with banana and avocado as well. Lunch is a very big meal for us – usually we eat it at about 1 o’clock or 2 o’clock in the afternoon. We might have rice or noodles, with beans, or maybe delicious fried fish from Lake Victoria called tilapia. There is also chicken and beef, and liver which is very nutritious and good for you. There is something in Kenya called ugali, which is made by mashing up dried corn and mixing it with water. We eat this with EVERYTHING! It’s very good and you can use it to soak up all the delicious juices from the other foods. We also have the most yummy flat breads called chapatis. Maybe when I come to Whiting Lane in May I'll bring you some! Everything I have eaten so far has been GREAT. We have dinner late - at about 9pm, which is right before bedtime. This was very different for me because normally I don't like to sleep right after dinner, but I am getting used to the Kenyan schedule.

Oh, and the other day we ate one of my favorite foods ever – for my host sister’s 20th birthday we had chocolate birthday cake! It was fantastic. We sang happy birthday and had candles and everything.

Have you ever tried ugali or chapatis? Do you think you would like them? What kinds of foods would you want to show our friends in Kenya if they were to visit the USA?