Editorial - Eat The Street

You don’t have to be a wine expert to enjoy a good glass of wine, argues Katy Fentress, There is so much to discover in the world of East African side of the road eats discovers who is happy to have passed the responsibility of curating this month’s wine section to Katy Fentress who is proud to introduce the first ever Yummy Street Food issue. someone unarguably more qualified than her.

While strolling down the streets of my hometown Rome last year, I was surprised to see a shop with a sign outside that read (in English) “Roman Street Food”. The sign left me a bit perplexed as the place was selling regular sandwiches which are not, to the best of my 20 year living there knowledge, Roman street food. In my opinion, Roman street food falls into two categories: snacks and square sliced pizza. The first category, snacks, is pretty straightforward and comprises of little more than roasted chestnuts, boiled lupin beans and big slightly sweet green olives. The second category is a bit more vague because technically sliced pizza is made in an oven and served in a bakery, so calling it street food is a bit of a stretch of the imagination. The existence of that sign, in an albeit touristy area, rammed home the fact that street food is now officially a trend and that even places that don’t technically have a huge street food culture like Rome, are now jumping on the bandwagon. Nairobi, unlike Rome, has an extremely vibrant street food culture upon which much of the economy hinges and which will inevitably and for the foreseeable future resist any efforts at being gentrified. I don’t have much in the way of data, but I’d wager that the amount of people in Nairobi who depend on their trusted kibanda (shack) for their middle of the day culinary needs, is probably somewhere near the 70% mark. Kibanda dining is wholesome, it is straightforward, it is extremely nutritious and if you thought you were going there for exotic and spicy food, then you are in the wrongest of places. In case you are unfamiliar with Kibanda eating protocol, we have compiled for you the essential “13 commandments of Kibanda dining” [p35] just to help you navigate this important cornerstone of Kenyan culture.

One type of Kenyan celebration and street food that is fantastic but could nonetheless benefit from a little bit of a gourmet facelift, is the mutura blood sausage. I’m not saying it’s not very delicious on its own, but any advances in cooking, preserving and spicing up techniques would not be completely misplaced. It is now, however, available in some restaurants, as discovers an thrilled Winnie Wangui in her “Bona Fide Sausage” article on page 38. One of the main features in this month’s magazine is the Jamaican Street Festival Test kitchen piece [p28], which would never have happened without the recipe development and food styling of the excellent Sneha Modi. Hopefully this will open up for Yummy a whole new era of in-house food creation and photography. Watch this space! Fun street food related articles also include the day in the life of Nairobi street snacks [p36], a piece by our Ugandan contributor Malcolm Bigyemano on streamlining Rollex production in Kampala [p41], a walk through a Zanzibari food market [p43] and a new adventure in Marah Köberle’s world of pickling and fermentation [p45]. Elsewhere in her regular restaurant review article, Susan Wong is excited to discover that the Korean/Japanese tapas bar that recently opened in the new Village Market wing, fully meets her arguably high expectations. While we have done some amount of work on highlighting regional foods we have at our disposal we have, of course, only really begun to scratch the surface. We could do an entire issue exclusively on the crazy Swahili flavours associated with Mombasa street for example and when it comes to what neighbouring Ethiopia, Somalia and Rwanda do for casual side of the road snacking, we really have no idea. Which is good as it gives us an excuse to do this again next year!

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