27 juin 2006
Crocodile tastes like frog
A friend of mine recently asked me what weird/surprising/original things I had eaten since I moved to Africa. He was disappointed when I told him that most of it had been quite straightforward and risk-free.
Still, I figured I could develop a little bit. First of all Nairobi being a cosmopolitan city like Paris or New York, you can eat just about any kind of food: Chinese, Japanese, Indian, French, Italian, etc. You also have the choice between several fast food chains, many of them specialized in fried chicken. The Java House cafes are probably the most popular meeting point for lunch or coffee. Just imagine a Starbucks with food (hamburgers, sandwiches, quiches, salads, and of course brownies, muffins and bagels, everything very American). Of course, they also have coffee.
Then if you really want to eat African, you have to specifically look for it. But you can find very good Swahili food almost anywhere in Kenya and Tanzania. The dishes are usually composed of rice or ugali (maize porridge) and fish or meat, often cooked in coconut milk and curry. If you want to do things right, you should eat with your fingers. Yes, fish too. You get the trick pretty quickly though.
Finally, something that is pretty fun to try out is game meat, and then the Carnivore restaurant in 
Nairobi is the place to go. For a fixed price, waiters will come to your table carrying huge skewers of meat and serve you until you say no more. Besides traditional meat like chicken, beef or pork, you can try ostrich, crocodile, camel, and when you’re lucky giraffe (no giraffe the day I went unfortunately). Camel was not my favourite, it tasted like fatty lamb. But crocodile meat is very good I thought, kind of like frog’s legs. Of course this doesn’t help if you haven’t tried one or the other.
Commentaires
msg from a Gascon friend..
Hello Mary! Tres sympa et interessant tes commentaires, surtout celui de ce jeune garcon qui tombe amoureux de la belle Mary et qui va droit au but..ca ma bien fait marrer! Cest poilant, j etais aussi alle plusieurs fois dans un resto appele le carnivore dans le NE de Johanesburg RSA.. meme concept, a volonte et tu goutes de tous nos amis les animaux du coin.. j avoue que cest original>>javais bien aime l impala.
Good luck et a tres vite, merci de nous faire partager tes moments si intimes et fort, Stan
