Namibia is a bit of a culinary wasteland. The food is bland and boring and even the best restaurants leave something to be desired. Complicated orders don't fly here and often times what's on the menu has nothing to do with what's actually being served. That's why we suggest saving a buck and packing your own stash. There are decent shops and grocery stores along most of the country's paved roads. If you insist on dining out, do it where the locals eat.
In Rudu:
Eating local means lunch in a tin shack locals call The Car Wash. (Probably because there's no sign and the informal establishment is next to--you guessed it--a car wash.) A women's collective owns the neighborhood joint, where traditional food is cooked up in huge cast iron pots Monday through Friday. It's important to get there early (or at least before 2 pm) since service stops when the food runs out. Those in the know say there are never leftovers.
The regular menu includes pap (a thick, white porridge similar to grits or Cream of Wheat), mahangu (another porridge that's brown and gritty), cabbage, mutete (the local spinach) and assorted meat in the soup. Prices are a dollar a scoop (though meat is a bit more expensive), and while the women don't speak English, it's easy enough to point. We recommend the pap and mutete, which grows in the region and is always fresh. But locals will think you're crazy if you don't order meat--and if you talk while eating at one of the plastic tables under the tarps. Eating and talking don't mix in the Kavango Region.
In the Caprivi Strip:
If you're heading to the Caprivi Strip, the little piece of land in the northeastern part of Namibia, Mama's, in Katima, is the perfect stop for a traditional feast. Next to the Craft Center--which for the record, has more reasonably-priced handmade baskets than you'll find in Windhoek--Mama's offers traditional food in a traditional setting for next to nothing. Our group of five ate a full meal of fried fish, mutete and pap for around N$30 ($4) total. Mama's still has the plastic tables, but its cement walls and outdoor seating area make it slightly more formal than The Car Wash. And while it's in Katima's tourist center, it's still where the locals come to nosh.
Food is served family style and patrons are expected to eat with their hands; there's no silverware on the premises. Servers bring bowls of warm soapy water to patrons before meals and plates of mutete, whole fish, goat and rounds of pap are placed at the table's center for all to feast.
It may not be haute cuisine, but it is a real taste of Namibia--of the food, of the culture and of the culinary traditions.
Related Stories:
· Jaunted Embedded Travel Guide: Namibia [Jaunted]
· Africa Travel coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: Aaron Forest]
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