Street Food: Does Kisumu have its Signature City Flavor?
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- February 10, 2023
Food, especially street food, is one of the ingredients that make up a city’s character and identity. That is to say, you travel to a place, and what you eat there is one of the experiences that will forever be vivid in your memory.
There is the wholesome culinary serving of a city, with hotels, restaurants, homemade meals, and maybe multinational franchises. This one is quite the adventure.
Street food gives you that authentic taste of a city’s flavor minus the frills of traditional kitchens and dishes.
It gives you the added thrill of interacting with its people in their hometown elements.
Above all, you feel their vibe, mannerisms, and social creed as you gobble and nibble what they offer. You feel the pulse of the city in its raw form.
World over, cities have their typical street dish. Closer home, in East Africa, you mention Kampala City. Its Rolex (eggs wrapped in chapati) will effortlessly spring to mind and work up your appetite.
For example, Nairobi has the ever-inviting Mtura that you always seem to need more of. It likewise has the munchy Smokie Mayai. Mombasa’s Viazi Karai and Kahawatungu are legendary, not forgetting their bhajia.
Kisumu? Scratch your head….. chapo ndondo? Actually, street enough and definitely not original to Kisumu. Not to mention Smokie Mayai or mahindi choma either.
Kisumu however, doesn’t have a signature street dish unique to our streets, made in a way that’s organically Kisumu and served on the streets for that on-the-go quick bite and chat form.
But why? This city is known for its world-beating ngege (tilapia). It has a lively street food vending sector. It is blessed with 5-star chefs and versatile street cooks who can whip you a meal in the dead of night.
From that stretch of the main bus park terminus to the Grace Ogot social center, in Kondele, Wayside, Kibuye, Mamba area, and so on.
Do we need to cook up (in its literal sense) one from the abundance of ingredients we have? Can we have a fish-based street bite creatively done and served the Kisumu way?
Something you will dig into, and your taste buds will marvel and say, “wow, have we met somewhere before? You taste and sizzle with your aroma like Kisumu!”
Doesn’t this have something to do with urban culture, food tourism, or something?
If it is, maybe one day we shall have a Kisumu Street Food Festival. There will be all sorts of delicious chows made in Dala.
To sum up, maybe Kisumu will eventually simmer and serenade appetites with its own.
