As a kid growing up in Tanzania’s most populated and ethnically diverse city: Dar es Salaam, I got the privilege to enjoy a broad range of traditional foods from different corners of the country. In the name of commerce, Dar unites almost all tribes of this nation, it is indeed the one place where the Tanzanian cuisine resonates in unison. After many years of stay here and as a food lover, I have been able to compare between the tastes of a variety of foods.
Well, my first choice is absolutely not vegan, this is the one food that you will always find in social places, it neither has sugar nor does it contain chocolate, but somehow it manages to linger in the minds of man Tanzanians nationwide. The dish is Nyama choma, Tanzania’s undisputed champion.
What is Nyama choma and how to prepare it?
Nyama choma is a special form of grilled meat, preferably goat meat (mbuzi choma) but can also be beef or chicken (kuku choma). It is a more crunchy, customized form of barbeque meat.
The cooker used is made of iron frames where the meat rests as it is turns brown from the heat provided by the hot charcoal a few centimetres from it. You can see the fats The aim of keeping it a distance away from the fire is to make sure it does not get burnt.
Serving Nyama choma
Nyama choma can just have salt as the main additive while some prefer squeezing a few lemons on the meat alongside a combined mixture of pepper, onions, and garlic. Nyama choma is normally eaten with either Ugali, another staple food made from maize flour stiff porridge or can be eaten together with Ndizi choma (roasted bananas). Ugali, commonly consumed with Nyama choma is prepared by cooking a porridge of maize flour until it becomes stiff.
Where to find it.
You can find it in many large restaurants, bars, pubs and roadside sellers all over the city. It is a favorite in social gatherings and recreational places where people drink beer while waiting for the delicious goat to be ready. The mean cooking time for Nyama choma is 90 minutes. The Ndizi choma is prepared by roasting bananas in a similar manner, except them take a shorter time to cook.
Waiter…!
Next time you are at that bar on a calm weekend evening and you want to order Nyama choma, this is how you do it. Nyama Choma is ordered in kilos. So, you can tell the waiter/ waitress the number of kilos you or your group think is enough. A typical family outing can consume a kilo or more. A kilo costs between 8000 to 9000 TZS.
A visitor’s account
Perez, a Spanish friend of mine arrived in Tanzania in the 1980’s. As a Spaniard who had lived in Kenya before coming to Dar where he normally used the terminology ‘Nyama choma’ faced a surprising welcome by most Nyama choma sellers in Tanzania who told him that he word is not correct in Swahili. Instead, they told him to say “Nyama ya Kuchoma”. It was this way in many places of the country, but it has changed over time. Now the name “Nyama choma” is the most widely used and preferred across the country.
Future prospects
Despite high rates of rural-urban migration, with time, the diversity in Dar es Salaam seems to be fading away slowly due to modernization, fewer visits to one’s home village and globalization. Like any other major city in the world, cultures tend to merge to create a new one. I hope the future children would get a similar experience of the diverse meals in the Tanzanian cuisine.
Nyama Choma…always my favorite
Thanks for your blog, nice to read. Do not stop.