Food & drinks

Ethiopian cuisine is unique in ceremony, flavor, color and presentation. Before the meal commences, decorated metal or clay water jugs are brought to the table and their contents poured over the guest’s outstretched hands in to small bowl below. This cleansing is sometimes followed by a short prayer of thanksgiving. The first course, which immediately follows this ceremonial aspect of the meal, is usually a mild dish, such as curds and whey, to cleanse the plate for the more spice offerings that follow.

Wot, the national dish, comes in many varieties - meat, fish, poultry or vegetable – of hot pepper and spice stews which are almost always accompanied by fermented form of unleavened bread called injera. Layers of the bread are geometrically positioned in Mesobs, or basket tables, and spoonfuls of the different types of Wot are then attractively portioned out on top of them.

For those not accustomed to hot foods whose ingredients include red and black pepper, cardamom, garlic and coriander, there an alternative: read more