In Search of the perfect Nshima

Currently this a favourite place of mine for nshima. They are really friendly and are just opposite the gallery where I spend a lot of my time these days.

The nshima was not as good as the first time, when it was soft and yielding with no dryness, but they give you a huge piece of chicken and 2 relishes. This huge meal costs K15,000 which is about $4 I think!

But the search for good places to eat nshima in Lusaka continues!

Zam Eats: The Nshima Obsession

It is shameful that I have been back in Zambia so long and not really given traditional Zambian fare some coverage. To be honest, the cuisine is far from varied as things go, outside of the capital it is difficult to get more than meat pies, sausages and of nshima!

Nshima is a commone food staple throughout sub-Saharan Africa and has other names such as gari or foo foo. If you are familiar with polenta then it is more or less the same thing, except that nshima is white and is made with water only - no butter, cream or anything else. Like polenta, nishima is made from maize and particularly now during the rainy season, maize can be seen growing eeverywhere. It is stiff and comes in a large hot mound that you then break pieces from and roll into a ball. This ball is then dipped into sauce or vegetables. It's hard work to make and I confess I have never really cooked it myself because it requires so much elbow grease to mix it well!

Despite its blandness it is surprisingly addictive, both my husband and I love it and most Zambians will eat nshima twice a day. With nshima usually comes some vegetables like cabbage, rape (a type of kale), pumpkin leaves or eggplant and this is called relish. In addition might be some protein like chicken or beans and sometimes there is beef or fish.

Many people in the Lusaka area complain that it is difficult to find nshima restaurants and when you do find it, it's very expensive. This is usually because people are looking at lodges and hotels. We have found that if you are prepared to do a little searching, you will find lovely nshima and usually less than $4.

Zambia Here I come!

Market and village life in Zambia.

Top picture: Kapenta, dried fish

Middle picture: cooking oil for sale

Bottom picture: shelling maize to make mealie meal (flour)

I am flying out today to join my husband in Zambia. I hope my next blog post won't be too far behind this one, but we don't have internet yet because we don't even have a place to live! Still there are internet cafes so I hope to make good use of those.

Stay tuned.