Map East Africa

Your Guides Jambo! I’m Amina and this is my friend Kima. We’ll be your guides to East Africa, our home.

In East Africa, we eat very simple foods called “staple foods” because we don’t have extra money to spend. The most common staple food in East Africa is called ugali (pronounced oo-ga-ly), though it’s known by different names depending on the country you’re in.

Ugali is a doughy food, made by boiling ground-up corn. People who can afford it eat ugali with other foods like vegetable or meat stew. [Heading] Maasai Food: Because Kima and I are Maasai, we eat food that’s a bit different from the rest of East Africa. We only eat a few basic things: meat, tree bark, honey and milk. Most of these foods have one thing in common: they come from cows. This animal is very special to the Maasai.

Cows are very special to the Maasai

Sacred Cows

Cows are important in Maasai culture because they’re used for almost everything. We drink the cow’s milk and blood, and we eat the cow’s meat. Materials from the cows are even used to build our houses and make traditional medicines for when we are sick.

Make Mbaazi Wa Nazi

With help from an adult, try making this spicy, high-protein dish. It’s the Swahili way to prepare black-eyed peas in coconut milk. It is eaten as a breakfast food or for dessert.