Zanzibar pizza, and other culinary delights

Anyone that's been through Africa will tell you that local food is usually nothing much to write home about... with the welcome exception of Zanzibar. After a month or two of injera and sima/ugali, Zanzibar will make your taste buds sing!

Here's a little taste of what visitors to Zanzibar are in treat for.

Spices and seafood. Most of the local cuisine in the restaurants here is a big 'ol seaside Swahili mix. They serve up plenty of seafood with delightfully spiced rice and curries featuring coconut and a host of local spices. With the large Indian population, I hear the Indian food isn't too bad either. No wonder.

Zanzibari spiced rice

Forodhani. For a real treat though, you need to take a trip to Forodhani Market at night. I don't think it's possible to go wrong with anything here: it's all great, but priced well for even the stingiest of budget travelers.

Forodhani Market stalls

Pizza? The highlight of Forodhari Market has to be Zanzibar pizza, although they use the term 'pizza' quite loosely. Seeing how it's one of the most delicious things on the island (and thus the continent), I'll forgive them though. You really can't just stop at one with these!

More like a crepe or chapati than a pizza, it has no cheese or tomato sauce, instead stuffing your choice of meats and veggies in between a ball of dough and an egg. There are also dessert options including chocolate, banana, honey and other treats.

For those interested in trying their hand at it, I found a recipe. As the author points out though, even a good copy made at home just isn't quite the same as experiencing the real thing in all its glory.

Zanzibar pizza

Sugar Cane. Wash down your pizza with another Zanzibari treat, sugar cane juice. It basically involves them squeezing every bit of pulp out of a piece of sugar cane and adding a bit of fresh ginger. Watching them go to town on the sugar cane is pretty fun in itself. It's hard to describe just how refreshing this is in the sweltering Zanzibar heat: you just have to try it for yourself!

Squishing sugar cane into a delectable juice

Beach food. The food out on the beach is fairly similar to the local offerings in Stone Town. You'll see plenty of spiced rice and seafood, notably octopus. We also tried some King Fish, a white fish I'd never heard of that was quite tasty.

King fish

If you can find some local fishermen, try asking them to buy their fish directly out of the ocean and cook it for you for the freshest catch in town. Even at restaurants it can take them a good hour or so from ordering to get around to serving your food though, so just remember: patience is a virtue. 

More on the rest of Zanzibar to come!

*All pictures taken from Google images