Tanzanian Street Food to Try: A Hungry Traveler's Guide

Some of the best food in Tanzania is not served in lodges at all. It sizzles on charcoal grills by the roadside, fries in large pans at market stalls and gets passed through car windows at bus stops. Street food is where you taste everyday Tanzanian flavors.

Your safari lodges will feed you very well, so most guests try street food in Arusha, Moshi, Dar es Salaam or Stone Town. Here is what to look for.

Snacks and Breakfast Bites

Morning is the time for fried treats and sweet tea:

• Mandazi: lightly sweet fried dough, sometimes flavored with cardamom or coconut, perfect with chai.
• Chapati: soft, flaky flatbread inherited from Indian Ocean trade influences.
• Vitumbua: small, fluffy rice and coconut cakes cooked in a special pan, a coastal favorite.
• Sambusa: crisp triangular pastries filled with spiced meat or vegetables.
• Kachori: spiced potato balls fried in a gram-flour batter, especially popular in Dar and Zanzibar.

Grills and Hearty Plates

Mishkaki are marinated meat skewers, usually beef or goat, grilled over charcoal and often served with a squeeze of lime and chili. Nyama choma, roasted meat, is a social meal shared with friends, typically with kachumbari, a fresh tomato and onion salad.

Then there is chipsi mayai, a beloved comfort food of French fries cooked into an omelette. It is cheap, filling and found almost everywhere. Roasted maize cobs, called mahindi ya kuchoma, are a common roadside snack.

Zanzibar Specialties

The evening food market at Forodhani Gardens in Stone Town is famous for its stalls of grilled seafood, sugarcane juice and so-called Zanzibar pizza, a thin dough parcel filled with egg, meat, vegetables or sweet fillings like banana and chocolate, cooked on a hot griddle.

Look out for urojo, also called Zanzibar mix, a tangy, mildly spiced soup with fritters, potatoes and toppings. Freshly pressed sugarcane juice with ginger and lime is a refreshing accompaniment. Ask the price before ordering seafood, which is often sold by the piece.

Drinks and Sweets

Chai is often brewed with milk, sugar and spices such as ginger or cardamom. In Stone Town you may see coffee vendors serving strong, small cups of kahawa from brass pots. Fresh fruit is abundant: mangoes, pineapples, passion fruit and small sweet bananas, depending on season. Coconut water straight from the shell is hard to beat on a hot afternoon.

Eating Street Food Safely

Most travelers enjoy street food without any problems by following sensible precautions. Choose busy stalls where food turns over quickly, and favor items that are cooked hot in front of you. Fruit you peel yourself is a safer choice than pre-cut fruit. Drink bottled or treated water and be cautious with ice unless you know it is made from safe water.

If you have a sensitive stomach or specific health concerns, talk to a travel clinic before your trip, and pace yourself during the first few days.

If you would rather not navigate the stalls alone, ask us about a guided food walk in Arusha or Stone Town. A local guide can explain what each dish is, introduce you to trusted vendors and help with ordering, which makes it easier to try things you might otherwise walk past.