The best way I can describe a chat house, is that it is a den. A dark, smoky, den and incidentally a place to chew chat. It felt a little weird, actually very weird stooping through the door of the chat house and realizing I was the only woman inside. Against the walls, several low couches sat affronted by small coffee tables. Positioning myself in the corner, I sat down with the group and tried to take in the scene.

Chat is a traditional natural stimulant used in eastern Africa, similar to coca leaves in Peru and Bolivia. Called miraa in Kenya, the leave is popular along the ancient trading routes. Unlike the coca leaves, chat is generally consumed communally in a chat house.  That being said, its almost impossible not to walk down the street in Ethiopia and not see someone masticating the leaves.

It is clearly a very popular custom here in Ethiopia, so we decided to see what it was all about.  Chat, as you can imagine, tastes like chewing a leaf and in case you’ve never done that before, its bitter. That’s where the peanut comes in. Because you chew and chew and chew the leaves into a wad that sort of the dissolves in your mouth, adding the peanut significantly improves the flavor and the water helps wash it all down.

Chat is somewhat of a cultural phenomenon here in Ethiopia having been consumed in Eastern Africa for centuries. It’s available on every street corner and in the north and east its not uncommon to see people chewing chat all day long. The best chat comes from the eastern region near Harar. Best when consumed fresh, chat is exported from Harar not only throughout Ethiopia but also Somalia, Yemen and Djibouti. No one that we spoke to who tried it really felt any affects of the chat, but the people we were with said you apparently have to chew for at least an hour.  Right.  Maybe next time.

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