MY LIFE AS A FOODIE
TEXT
CHARITY KEITA
KIKUYU
NIGHT!
Despite her best intentions, Charity Keita discovers
that it is more difficult than she thought to stay true to
her culinary roots.
T
he truth is, I couldn’t face
doing an entirely Kenyan
meal. Despite how excited
I was at the prospect of
giving my piece the title
“Kikuyu Night!” there was no way I
was actually going to do an authentic
Kikuyu meal, given the lack of
spice and other fun condiments
that populate this segment of our
national plate. So me being me, I
decided to cheat because, as should
now be obvious, I was born to cheat
(in the kitchen that is - what did you
think I meant?).
For a while I toyed with the idea
of making both Mukimo, deliciously
creamy mashed potatoes with
pumpkin leaves, corn and maize, and
Githeri, the other Kikuyu national
dish which consists of boiled beans
and maize. A friend of mine is prone
to joking that for all the variety in
vegetables that come out of the
fertile Central Kenyan lands, our
imaginations are so limited that we
could only come up with two dishes
in which we stick all said veggies,
without any real consideration
to highlighting their individual
qualities. Either way, when I pitched
the idea to Luan, he rolled his eyes
and pleaded with me to just make
Mukimo because, he says, all the
beans in Githeri give him gas.
When I told my friends at dinner
the other night that I was planning
on cooking a Kikuyu heritage meal,
they got very excited and told me
that I should do the whole goat
slaughtering ritual. Luan did not
share their enthusiasm though,
because if we were to follow
tradition it would basically have
meant he had to do the whole
thing himself. I did however briefly
consider making mutura— Kikuyu
blood sausage— but again, being a
woman means I’m technically not
allowed to do this. Also, when it boils
right down to it, the idea of milking
an intestine of its faecal content
and then filling it up with blood just
feels like a bit too much work for
me at the moment. Maybe at the
next family get-together I’ll be able
to convince one of the more foodie
elders in the clan to rustle up some
proper traditional mutura, but for
the time being, best stick to less icky
preparations.
In the end when Kikuyu night was
finally upon us, we decided that I
would make mukimo with a Swahiliinspired mchicha (amaranth leaves)
side, while Luan would make lamb
The idea of
milking an
intestine of its
faecal content and
then filling it up
with blood just
feels like a bit too
much work
chops with caramelised onions
and feta cheese. Sure, the last part
really isn’t Kenyan by any stretch
of the imagination, but I guessed
(quite rightly as it turned out) that
the saltiness of the feta cheese
would balance out very well with the
sweetness of coconut and peanutinfused greens.
I’m still determined to make a
good Githeri at some point though.
There is a little local restaurant
called Double Portion that sits on
Chiromo Road between Muthithi
Road and the highway. They put
carrots and onions and all sorts of
other veggies in it and truth be told I
think it’s quite delicious. I’ll just have
to wait until Luan is away so I don’t
have to share a bed with him and his
gas.
19.