Tea

Hospitality in any African country is extremely important. You share what you have without a thought about tomorrow, how you will feed your family in the future or even whether your family will be able to satisfy their own hunger.

During the December holiday we invited Sella, my principal, over for lunch one day when the girls were here. It was a wonderful afternoon. Phillip, her son who is a university student came along too. Since the Kenyan diet is so different from ours, I tried to prepare foods that are somewhat familiar to them. I had the ingredients for Chipotle type burritos: beans, rice, mince (hamburger), salsa, guacamole and tortillas. They don’t mix these foods like we do. They eat avocado, but don’t make it into guacamole dip. Both times I’ve made it for Kenyans, they’ve loved it! Both seemed to enjoy the meal.


Imagine my surprise when Sella called a couple of days later. She wanted us to come to her house for tea while the girls were still visiting. Now tea isn’t just tea! It must at least have bread. You can see the wonderful food that we were served: tea, mandazi (fried bread similar to doughnuts, sweet potatoes in the hot pot, popcorn and biscuits (cookies). It wasn’t just tea, it was an entire meal!

When invited into someone’s home, you are treated like royalty. You are offered the best seats in the house. Once you sit down you aren’t allowed to get up and you are served! There is no such thing as self service or buffet style.

You sit and chat for at least 20 minutes. Then the hostess disappears while the final preparations are made. Once the food is ready, a pitcher with warm water and a basin are brought to you. You wash your hands while they pour the water for you. Keep in mind, it is too expensive for most Kenyans to cook with propane, so the water is heated over a charcoal fire.

Kenyan tea isn’t like tea in the Midwest. It is a mixture of tea, milk and sugar. Some restaurants here call it milk tea. Once your hands are washed, you are served tea. The sugar bowl is available so you can add as much sugar as you’d like. We are happy with one or two spoonfuls however, most Kenyans seem to take three or four!

Then it is time to fill your plate. Our manners indicate that you should take a little and then clean your plate. Not so here! You are expected to fill your plate, fill your plate, and then fill your plate again. We are always told that we are not eating nearly enough!

We had a wonderful afternoon with our friends.