Burundian Food: Brochettes, Isombe & Lake Tanganyika Fish
Bujumbura's food combines the simple, hearty flavours of Burundian highland cuisine with the freshwater fish of Lake Tanganyika — brochettes are the national obsession, isombe the soul food
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Burundian Brochettes
Grilled meat skewers - beef, goat or chicken on skewers - are Burundi's equivalent of the hamburger; served everywhere from market stalls to fine restaurants, they are the quintessential street food in Bujumbura
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Isombe: Cassava Leaf with Peanuts
Isombe — cassava leaves cooked with peanut paste — is Burundi's comfort food; the combination of earthy cassava greens with rich peanuts creates a deeply flavored stew served with ugali
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Lake Tanganyika Dagaa Sardines
The small dagaa sardines dried on the shores of Tanganyika are an important food - fried crispy and eaten as a snack or added to stews, they carry the concentrated flavor of the lake's ancient waters
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Ugali and Sorghum Porridge
The staple starch in Burundi is ugali - stiff maize or sorghum porridge - which is eaten with the hands and used to scoop up stew; the sorghum version has a slightly sour, nutty flavor characteristic of the highlands
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Fresh Tilapia from Tanganyika
Lake Tanganyika tilapia and Nile perch are grilled at the lakeside restaurants in Bujumbura — fresh from the morning's catch, their quality is exceptional and the setting across the lake is hard to beat
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Banana Beer (Urwarwa)
The traditional banana beer brewed from bananas from the Tanganyika region — urwarwa — is consumed at social gatherings; thick, mildly alcoholic and distinctly flavored, it is poured from split gourds