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You are here: Home / Archives for Destinations / Africa / Ethiopia

Foodie Friday- Injera

April 30, 2010 By Jillian

You would be right to be angry with us if our first Ethiopian foodie Friday wasn’t injera. Like most of Africa, Ethiopian’s traditionally eat with their hands, which presents a problem when eating… well many things. In the tradition of n’sima and chapati, the Ethiopians developed their own method of getting that stew down the hatch- injera.

Pancake like, soft and spongy, injera is made from sograham or teff. It’s texture is not unlike a crepe, but more spongy on one side. Unlike n’sima or chapati, injera has its own flavor, which is rather sour. It compliments well with traditional berbere spiced food such as dole wat (a chicken stew) and tibs (meat cooked with onions and peppers), but it certainly isn’t something you’d want to snack on alone. In case you aren’t familiar with berebere spice, I’ll just tell you what our friend Campbell says “it is as hot coming out as it was going in.” Berebere is seriously hot and be forewarned, its been known to give some…well intestinal difficulties. Fortunately or unfortunately, berebere spice seems to be one of the main ingredients in almost every dish here. Even pasta.

Typically meals are served communality on a big plate of injera. After ordering a pitcher of water is brought to the table, or in some of the more cheaper places a wash basin is pointed to. You wash your hands and return to the table, without touching anything else. Once the food arrives, the proper way to eat is rip off a piece of iinjera, roll it into a ball and dip it in the stew. Oh and did I mention only with your right hand? Traditionally the left hand is used for err….the call of nature leaving the right hand as the only appropriate hand to eat or pass things.

Spicy thick stewed meats are traditionally served with with iinjera, which can be seriously spicy here, prompting you to shove more iinjera in your mouth. You can see where this kind of circle goes. Soon enough the stew is gone and you’re sitting with a dish of soggy berebere soaked injera. After the meal its traditional to wash your hands again and return to the table.

Living in DC, we were familiar with Ethiopian food before embarking on our journey. It seems that most people in Addis Ababa know of DC’s food scene (or at least its Ethiopian food scene) and several times we’ve been asked if we’ve been to the Ethiopian restaurant on 18th street. Sitting in a waiting room, we met an older Ethiopian man who not only knows DC, but told us that the Ethiopian restaurant on 18th street is his favorite, but that the Georgetown one is overpriced. Ironic to be so far from home discussing the merits of our local Ethiopian restaurants!

Filed Under: Africa, Ethiopia, Food, Headline Tagged With: foodiefriday, spice

Faranji Pricing

April 28, 2010 By Jillian

I wish I could say that its uncommon for foreigners or tourists to be charged differently. All over the world people seem willing to take advantage of the newcomer, to see what boundary can be pushed, but never have we seen a tourist price so institutionalized.

IMGP4608Faranji pricing in Ethiopia is a way of business. While gringo pricing is common in Latin America, is generally understood that its a “starting” price from which to negotiate and almost no one will admit to a separate gringo price. That is just not the case in Ethiopia and often we’ve been presented with a bill that is different from what we expected. “Faranji price,” we’re told, as a matter of fact, expecting us to understand. Nothing frustrates us more than being charged differently because of the color of our skin or our nationality.

Recently we sat at an Internet cafe for a few hours, trying to catch up with some online administration. Although the price was set at .35Birr cents (about $0.05) per minute, when it came time to pay, we were charged .75 Birr cents a minute. Protesting the increase, we were told simply that .75 was the faranji price. Refusing to pay what we saw as an unfair increase due to our skin color, we argued that the practice of faranji pricing was unfair. “That’s how it is,” the cafe attendant said. In the end we refused to back down and after extensive discussions paid original rate.

What is right though? Should we act on a ‘when in Rome’ mentality and pay what is asked of us for should we stand up for the principles of equality and fair play that we grew up in and enforce in our own country? We’ll posted a new poll to this affect and are curious about your thoughts.

Filed Under: Africa, Ethiopia, Headline Tagged With: cultures, money

Addis Ababa

April 26, 2010 By Danny

This is probably the most African city in Africa. It is big and loud. Sidewalks run incomplete into beautiful buildings. It is among the 5 largest cities on the continent yet there is a donkey that eats grass out of the road median near our hotel and today we had to walk around a flock of sheep being herded the opposite direction. It is where the Africa of old meets the Africa of new.

Addis is unique in Africa for the same reason Ethiopia is unique in Africa. Ethiopia is the only country in Africa never to have been conquered or colonized. Every other country we’ve been to on this trip, including our own USA, is a country born from colonization. This lack of European influence (save Mussolini’s occupation during World War II) has yielded a country that can say it is wholly African. As a result, Addis Ababa, the capital city, is the only one on the continent free of European history and thus serves as a beacon for the rest of the continent, as the center of African diplomacy.

This role as the diplomatic center of Africa gives Addis Ababa its modern edge. It is the reason Addis is home to one hotel (a Sheraton) rumored to be one of the nicest in the world, with a night in a villa starting at $12,000. It is the reason every country we’ve ever heard of has an embassy here. It is the reason I was just able to enjoy good ice cream with chocolate cake for the first time months.

We’ve had a lot of time to pass here in Addis, waiting for visas to Egypt and then to Sudan so that we can complete the remainder of our trip. It is the first time, in over a year of travel, that we’ve set foot inside a US Embassy (to get additional passport pages) and I can honestly say I was never so happy to see a photo of Hilary Clinton in my life. We saw a copy of the famous ‘Lucy’ skeleton, ate a lot of Ethiopian food, and even watching Ethiopian dancing. This is a nice city, a real city, but it still doesn’t make me want to spend more time on the continent.

Filed Under: Africa, Ethiopia, Headline Tagged With: capitals, cities

Ethiopia and I are not yet friends.

April 20, 2010 By Danny

This poor relationship began in Nairobi when we first entered the Ethiopian Embassy to apply for our visas. Our “application” was approved rather quickly but we were then told that we would have to pay $70 to enter, rather than the $20 we would have to pay if we flew. This is how the conversation progressed:

Consular Officer: Your application is approved, go pay $70 each at the bank and then come back with the receipt.

Us: We thought the fee was $20?

Officer: It is if you fly, or if you belong to ANY OTHER NATIONALITY IN THE WORLD, but as a big thank you to all the American tax dollars that are sent annually to Ethiopia by the CDC, USAID, HHS, and other sources we figured you could do without this money as well.

IMGP5266OK, he didn’t say that last part but that’s how we felt. Reciprocity for our insane visa process is one thing that we’ve learned to deal with, but this is not reciprocity, this is nothing but a big slap in the face, one that we didn’t appreciate. Of course, the story doesn’t end there. When we arrived at the border (driving in with friends) we had more fun:

Military Police Officer: Why did you drive past my road block?

There was no roadblock. The arm that was meant to stop traffic was located in front of the immigration post and was up, allowing us to pass. As the officer questioned us several other cars and motorcycles went past without stopping. As he continues his questioning a second man, wearing a Tommy Hilfiger shirt walks up to the driver side and demands our passports.

Us: We were looking for you, where is the immigration and customs offices, where do we go now?

Officer: Immigration is closed for 30 minutes, this man (motions to the man in the Hilfiger shirt) is from there and will review your passport.

IMGP1261

Us: Where is your uniform, can we see your ID.

Hilfiger shirt: What, you think I’m a crook? Give me your passport. (A crowd gathers around the car)

Us: No but everyone is surrounding us, and you don’t have an ID or a uniform, how do I know you’re with immigration?

Military Police Officer: Go back to Kenya.

We eventually relented (we had no choice) and were allowed to park the car off the road and wait for immigration to open which was not a problem. Then the customs agent had to be called to the office – he was at home, where else would he be – to process the car. We then drove away and had our first Ethiopian food (which was quite tasty and cheap) and for a few short moments felt better about having gone through so much trouble to come here.

Then we found chewing gum had been placed on each of the 4 door handles to the car. Yeah….f*** you too, Ethiopia.

Filed Under: Africa, Ethiopia, Headline Tagged With: border, officials, travel

The Worst Road in Africa

April 19, 2010 By Danny

After waiting nearly a week we finally had our Ethiopian visas in hand and began the trip north to the border. The first few hours, going around Mt. Kenya are normal roads….with pavement. The next 300 miles or so, taking us back into the northern hemisphere (we’ve now crossed the equator 7 times in the past month) was another story.

IMGP1191Generally independent travelers like us have a few options on this path: 1) the dusty, dirty, once a week bus that runs to the border straight without breaks and usually has delays of around 12 hours or 2) the cattle truck, where upgrading to sit in the cab with the driver and his 10 best paying customers is half of what the bus costs. Did I mention its almost 300 miles and two days on this road? Weighing these two options, we considered flying to Addis Ababa.

Ultimately we were saved from the arduous journey by friends of ours.  Now that we’ve survived a safari together, and almost been arrested together, the journey north couldn’t be too bad! Now that we didn’t need to worry about falling out of the cattle truck or suffocating from the smells of the most awful bus on Africa’s “most awful” road, we had only the bandits to be concerned with….ya’know, the ones who shoot at cars and trucks and all of that. 🙂 (no, I’m not joking)

In the end no bandits shot at us, but we did have to contend with a few spitting camels and some herdsmen. Local people, decorated in full beaded headdresses and feathers made interesting companions at the Marsabit Internet cafe. The road was long,dusty and in terrible condition, but we made it through and arrived without any major problems at the Ethiopian border.

Filed Under: Africa, Ethiopia, Headline, Kenya Tagged With: border crossing, transportation

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