kkuter

One of the most common questions I had from people before I left for Zim was what the food here was like. Honestly, I didn’t know much about Zim cuisine before I arrived. I have already shared in a previous post that the staple food of the country is sadza, which is a corn porridge similar to grits. Besides sadza, I haven’t heard of any other food that is quintessential Zim cuisine.

As for what I am eating, it is actually somewhat similar to what I ate at home, but less variety as I am limited by what I can find at the grocery store within walking distance to my flat. For dinner, I eat a lot of chicken, often marinaded in something, along with rice or pasta and roasted veggies. I cannot eat much fresh veggies because of the high prevalence of cholera in the country (it is actually a big problem right now, that you can read about in this article). Thus, I follow the guidelines of “boil it, cook it, peel it, or leave it”, which limits my options significantly. For breakfast, I typically have greek yogurt with a banana or Cerevita! For lunch, I take either a peanut butter or cheese sandwich.

What has been fun is exploring the different snack options in Zim. First, we have the national snack: maputi. This is basically popcorn, but different. It isn’t as fluffy. At one point, it was available on Amazon!

My two favorite snack items so far are the Caribbean Onion & Balsamic Vinegar flavored Lay’s chips and the barbecue flavored Rashers, which are like a puffed corn.

Vinegar is a common flavor variety, oddly enough. I really like the balsamic rice cakes and also found salt and vinegar popcorn.