Zambian cuisine is just as adventurous as the country, with meat dishes like sautéed grasshoppers, caterpillars and flying ants topped with relishes made of varied vegetables, the staple dish of cornmeal porridge, and freshwater fish such as Nile perch and Kariba crayfish. An extensive number of local beers are just waiting to be cracked open while watching the sunset, along with moonshine and non-alcoholic maize drinks. Take a look at our list of eats for your Zambia tours!
Staples:
Nshima (cornmeal porridge)
Ndiwo Relishes – made with vegetables, tomato and onion, leaves of cassava, sweet potato leaves, beans, cabbage, mustard, rape, kale, beans, chibwabwa pumpkin leaves, ndelele okra, rice
Ifisashi groundnut stew
Meat:
Nkuku mu chikasu Village Chicken
Sautéed grasshoppers, caterpillars, cicadas, flying ants
Ifinkubala mopane caterpillar worms
Fish
Freshwater: Bream, Nile perch, Salmon, Kariba crayfish
Kapenta dried fish
Beverages:
Munkoyo (maize and dried munkoyo roots)
Maheu maize drink (also in banana, chocolate and orange)
Baobab White
Beer:
Mosi, Eagle, Zambezi Lager, Dr Livingstone’s Lager, Safari Stout, Zikomo Copper Ale
Chibuku Shake Shake (brewed from sorghum and maize in a milk carton)
Spirits:
Kachasu moonshine
Courtney Gahan is a serial expat, traveller and freelance writer who has bartered with Moroccan marketeers, seen the sun rise at Angkor Wat and elbowed her way through crowds on NYE in NYC
