Burundi

Country - Burundi

Cuisine Description - Burundi is situated in Central Africa and has a territory full of mountains, savannas and agricultural fields, with forests in the surrounding of rivers and waters. Agriculture is spread on 80 % of the country’s surface and it especially includes coffee, tea, corn, beans and manioc. Due to these characteristics, the Burundi cuisine is very representative for the African culinary culture, as it includes beans, which are the staple of Burundi cooking, exotic fruits (mainly bananas) plantains, sweet potatoes, cassava, peas, maize and cereals, like corn and Wheat. Not much meat is consumed in Burundi, due to the fact that animal breeding is a secondary occupation; still, there are some dishes that include goat and sheep meat but cows are very secret.
A major aspect when discussing the Burundian cuisine is based on the economical conditions of the country: the Burundian people usually eat homemade food, from homemade vessel, also used for drinking, carrying water and storing grain.

The major difference between the regions of Burundi is the fact that there aren’t many restaurants in the small towns and rural areas (in there, homemade traditional food is consumed on regular bases, including beans, plantains, bananas and corn), while in the urban areas, there can be found numerous cuisines. In the capital Bujumbura (located on the Lake Tanganyika) and in Kitega, there are various traditional restaurants, including the most popular ones, French and Greek. In all urban areas, besides the traditional cuisine of Africa and the European ones, Asian cuisine is present in many restaurants and hotels. The Asian influences are felt in the rice dishes, very spicy foods and the famous chapati. Chapati is a bread that comes from India and the recipe of the dough includes flour, water, salt and oil – these are all made in a tawa, which is a round griddle or in an iron skillet. Copyright Recipes Wiki