What to Expect from Food in Zanzibar

The food in Zanzibar can be summarized as follows:

  • it is made to order – the food is cooked right after you order it which translates in at least half an hour, usually much more, of waiting for it. Not good if you are too hungry but it definitely is fresh.
  • Zanzibari food is generally all about fish and sea food. At low tide we could see almost every man in the village heading to the reef and then selling their catch right on the beach. Even toddlers were browsing around the drying sand looking for crabs and collecting them in cans. The most popular dishes include grilled, fried and curry sea goodies.
  • the side dishes are limited to french fries or steamed rice in most of the restaurants. At the end of our holiday we also tried ugali, a simple starch made from corn flour, similar to polenta but it didn’t make it to the top of our favorites.
  • avocado is cheap and delicious and can be found everywhere. We had some of the best avocado salads ever.

Here is the photo recap of our food experience in Zanzibar. Tanzania is not so famous for its excessive lighting so the dinner pictures are not as awesome as one could hope for.