Ethiopian cuisine is one of the most unique and diverse cuisines in the world. It is easy to find rich, flavorful curries and a diverse selection of foods almost everywhere you go whether in simple rural villages or restaurants in the big cities. Food in Ethiopia is exciting and different.
Let's delve into the essentials of Ethiopian dining, offering insights into the staple foods, etiquette, and must-try dishes that define this vibrant culinary tradition.
The Basics: Essential Words to Know
When exploring Ethiopian cuisine, there are a few fundamental terms you'll encounter frequently:
- Injera: This is that fluffy fermented pancake made from the grain teff. Injera is the staple food of Ethiopia, and just about every "wat" is served on injera; it acts as both the plate and the silverware. There are, however, ranges of injera from white to black and thin to fat and fluffy.
- Wat: A wat is just the gooey, soupy topping that plops on top of your plate of injera. Wats make eating injera bearable; injera alone is kind of sour. Don’t let wat confuse you; wat essentially could be replaced with soup. You could eat shiro wat, doro wat, ciga wat, or any other type of wat, so make sure to specify-you didn’t just eat “wat”.
- Burbere: This is the chief spice blend found in Ethiopian cooking, a fragrant blend that’s somewhere between Indian curry and Southwestern chili powder. It’s a dark red blend of sun-dried chiles, ginger, garlic, cardamom, nutmeg, cloves, cumin, coriander and other spices.
A selection of Ethiopian dishes served on injera. Image source: Wikipedia
Ethiopian Eating Etiquette
Understanding the proper etiquette enhances the dining experience, whether you're in an Ethiopian home or a restaurant.
Read also: Authentic Ethiopian Cuisine
If you were to eat in an Ethiopian home, you would probably be served on individual plastic or metal plates with rolls of injera and wat in constant supply. However, if you choose to eat out with a friend, expect to be served on one big metal tri, or large plate. You order one wat for two people generally, and each wat comes with one injera. It is polite to only eat from your side of the plate; don’t go dabbing here and there all willy-nilly!
If you seem to be running low on injera, your lunchmate will most likely tear some injera of his or her side and flop it on your side, exclaiming, “EAT!” It is Ethiopian culture to push your guest until she eats so much she might puke. Ha, no, kidding but kind of not. When dining with Ethiopians, you will be told to eat and eat and eat, “Be! Be! Bla!” But should you so choose, you can politely reply, “Bakagn,” which means, “I’ve had enough.”
Also, if you are eating out and someone you know walks by, it is polite to tell him or her, “Innibla!” Meaning, “Let’s eat!” Thereby offering an open invitation to the passerby even though you probably don’t actually intend for him or her to join you.
Ethiopian food is almost always eaten with your hands, or rather your hand-your right hand. The left is left for… other things. Shake with your right, eat with your right, write with your right, and wipe with your left. Nevertheless, it is always important to wash your hands before and after eating Ethiopian food. It’s especially important to have clean hands if you want to partake in the Ethiopian cultural practice of the Gursha. A gursha is a loving and respectful gesture exchanged between family, good friends, or lovers, in which one feeds the other bites of injera and wat like a mama and baby bird.
Instead of Bread
Ethiopia is not known for its bread; it is known for the injera. Bread is generally only eaten at breakfast time with a cup of tea. The bread here is nothing to brag about, though some might bash me for not raving about Ambasha dabo. Dabo means bread, and there are basically four kinds in Ethiopia.
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- You’ve got machine, or afar dabo, which is a boring floury loaf.
- Then there is Ambasha, which is cut into large triangular slices.
- There is wiha dabo, or water bread, which is a thick round loaf usually set aside for weddings and birthdays.
- And then there are bombolinos or doughnuts, which are usually just fried round bits of dough.
Eating Culture: Using Your Hands
The first rule of thumb when eating in Ethiopia is to use your hands! Eating with your hands is a standard practice in Ethiopia, not just in locals’ home but also in diners and restaurants. Also, eating Ethiopian food is a social experience: everyone gathers around the table and digs into a communal platter that is shared with each other.
Another Ethiopian eating custom includes feeding one another food with their hands, as an act of friendship and love. When eating with friends or family, tear off a strip of injera, wrap it around some meat or curry, and then put it into your friend’s mouth.
Frequent Fasting: Vegan Options
Since Ethiopians are prominently Ethiopian Orthodox Christian, there is a lot of fasting that happens here. It seems like we spend half the year fasting, not to mention every Wednesday and Friday! Fasting for Ethiopians generally means a vegan diet: no meat, no eggs, no cheese, yogurt, milk, etc. That’s not too hard because we rarely eat those things anyways. But on fasting days you can eat shiro wat, tagabino, misir (lentils) wat or my favorite, baya ayinat. Shiro and tagabino are both made from mixing ground chickpea shiro powder water, onions and garlic but with varying amounts of oil.
Eat Meat
Meat and dairy products are generally reserved for holidays or the wealthy. Meat is expensive. Shiro is not. Ethiopians eat a lot of shiro. In terms of meat, we eat a lot of goat and sheep. Although goat and sheep often have that nasty gamey flavor in America, the meat I’ve had here has been quite delightful. Cows and chickens are generally only eaten for holidays because they’re scarce, big, expensive and a lot of work.
Tibs and kay wat are both commonly served at restaurants and they’re either goat or sheep or sometimes cow. Tibs are diced bits of meat flavored with oil or butter, green peppers and onions. Kay wat is a liquidy, oily red wat, spiced with Burbere. After a holiday, Ethiopians will string quanta in their homes, which is like jerky, to be saved for a later date. They will eat it in a wat or with eggs or something. As you all know, doro wat, or wat made with chicken, is my absolute favorite!
Read also: Exploring Ethiopian Cuisine: Rohobot
Seems a Bit Fishy
I am personally not a fish-fan, especially in a landlocked country, but some people really love the fish here around Bahir Dar and areas with lakes. There are a few fish options:
- Fish goulash
- Fish dulet
- Fried fish
Goulash is fried chunks of fish and usually a volunteer favorite. Dulet is more like a wat and is kind of wet and soupy and generally spiced with Burbere. Fried fish can sometimes be a bit shocking because sometimes you literally get a plate with an entire fried fish plopped on it, bones, and empty glaring eye-sockets and all!
Rare and Scary
There are also the more eccentric Ethiopian edibles like kitfo and dulet. If you get past the basis of these dishes, they’re actually quite tasty. Kitfo is tiny-diced bits of raw meat, usually spiced fto deliciousness. I’ve eaten it once on accident, and I can attest to its delectableness. Dulet, on the other hand I find to be pithy and repulsive. It is goat or sheep liver and all the bowels and innards cleaned and diced.
Drink to Drink and Get Drunk
Ethiopians don’t drink as much as ferenjis do (period). It may seem like a strange generalization to make but I’m quite sure of it; perhaps it’s due to mere scarcity or maybe cost. Ethiopians mostly only drink a glass of water or a soda after each meal, not before or during, after. There are also two shay/buna or tea/coffee breaks throughout the day for government workers; at that time we drink tea and coffee, seems obvious enough, eh?
But the coffee is one tiny teacup, called a sini, and the tea is quite miniscule as well and half of the cup is pure sugar. I eventually invested in a French Press to get a mug full of coffee in me a day; even 3 sinis at a coffee ceremony is simply NOT enough! I mentioned sodas before; restaurants generally carry Coca Cola or Pepsi, Fanta or Mirinda.
In terms of alcoholic drinks, you’ve got your pick of beer, local beer or tella, moonshine, called arake, honey wine or tej. The beer here is pretty terrible in my opinion. St. Georges Beer is the most widely available; it’s horrible and watery and tastes like p*ss. There are thankfully other less horrible options though like Dashen, Amber, Royal, Meta, Bedele and Harar. I like all of them, except Georges. If I had to choose, I would probably go with Bedele.
I used to avoid tella and arake at site and at site because I didn’t want to appear like a drunkard and neither are very appealing but I have recently embraced it. Also, it’s not really culturally-appropriate or widely accepted for women to drink in public. I have adapted though and integrated and my town knows me now, so I have deemed drinking appropriate here on out. I can now tell the difference between “fat” and “thin” tella and good and bad arake.
Arake is served in the tiniest shot glasses I’ve ever seen and it is sipped, slowly. No down the hatch, throw it back here! I also love arake; it’s horrible, but I love it. Unfortunately, we don’t have tej in my town, due to lack of bees and all, but the few times I have indulged and imbibed in the bigger cities, it has been quite tasty, bee legs and all.
Tips for Dining at an Ethiopian Restaurant
Here are some helpful tips for making the most of your Ethiopian dining experience:
- Go with a Group: If you go alone to an Ethiopian restaurant, you only get to try one dish. By going with a group, you get to sample lots of dishes because everyone at the table shares. Of course, you could go alone and order two entrées.
- Get a Beyaynetu (Vegetarian Combination Platter): If you do dine alone, this is your best bet for variety, and if you’re with a group, you certainly want veggie selections to complement your meat dishes. At some restaurants, you get small portions of a few veggie sides with a meat dish.
- Ethiopian Meat Is Very Lean: You won’t find any fat on the meat when you order beef or lamb dishes - or at least, you shouldn’t. If you do, then the restaurant didn’t prepare the meal well. The favorite dish doro wot consists of chicken drumsticks or thighs, and they should be very well trimmed of fat. But beware! That doesn’t mean Ethiopian food is low fat. In fact, far from it. Meat dishes are made with niter kibe - Ethiopian spiced clarified butter - and veggie dishes are all cooked in oil - sometimes lots of it, depending on the chef. At the end of the meal, you’ll see that the injera is soaked with butter or oil. It’s delicious, this oily injera, and you should eat it. Ethiopians love their raw meats.
- You Can Handle the Spice: “Spicy” Ethiopian dishes really aren’t all that fiery hot: I like to say that the cuisine is spiced but not spicy. I’ve eaten with people who were shy around spicy foods and found Ethiopian spice levels to be fine. You can always ask your server for a sample to see if it’s too spicy for you. Any dish called a wot on the menu will have berbere, the red pepper, and any dish called an alicha will not, so it’ll be milder.
- Eat with Your Hand, Not Your Hands: Strictly speaking, you should only use your right hand to eat: Tear off a piece of injera with your right hand only, and then grab your food with it. But most Americans will use two hands for the tearing off process. Also, only injera should ever touch your hands, and your fingers should never touch your mouth - you place the injera with the food into your mouth without salivating all over your fingertips.
- A Few Words About Injera: Your injera should be moist, and at room temperature or warm, but not cold. Some restaurants make their own injera in large batches, then freeze it and defrost it as needed. Ethiopians in the homeland prefer to make their injera with pure teff, a gluten-free grain. But outside of Ethiopia, because teff is more expensive than other flours, restaurants mix it with wheat and/or barley, so it’s not gluten free. Still, in some big cities, you can get pure teff injera imported from Ethiopia, and I highly recommend it.
- Consider an Appetizer: Most will offer a sambussa, a small triangular “pastry” of deep fried dough filled with lentils or beef (a bit like the Indian samosa). You’ll sometimes find ayib (Ethiopian cheese) as an appetizer, or even butecha, a vegetarian dish made with chick peas, onions, jalapeños and lemon juice, although I prefer butecha on my beyaynetu. Another pre-meal treat is kategna: pieces of injera smeared with niter kibe and berbere.
Traditional Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony. Image source: Pinterest
Must-Try Ethiopian Dishes
Here are some of the most popular and flavorful dishes you should consider trying:
- Doro Wat: The national dish of Ethiopia is often considered to be doro wot, a chicken drumstick (or sometimes thigh, which I prefer) on the bone in a thick rich red sauce (called a kulet). It’s delicious, but I find that at most Ethiopian restaurants, portions are small, so you may not have enough entrée to enjoy. If you want chicken, I’d recommend a dish made with breast meat: doro tibs wot, for example.
- Shiro: Shiro is one of the best Ethiopian dishes for vegetarians and vegans. It is also one of my favorite Ethiopian foods, because of how flavorful and spicy it is. The delicious, thick stew is made of powdered chickpea, broad bean or lentils, slow-cooked with the popular berbere powder. Most people also add minced onions, garlic and, depending upon regional variation, ground ginger or chopped tomatoes and chili-peppers. Like many authentic Ethiopian dishes on this list, it is served with injera.
- Kitfo: This is definitely one of the most surprising traditional Ethiopian foods. Kitfo is made of minced raw beef marinated in mitmita (a chili powder-based spice blend) and niter kibbeh (a clarified butter infused with herbs and spices). Kitfo is often served alongside a mild cheese called ayibe or cooked greens. Of course you eat it with injera.
- Tibs: It seems as if nearly every culture has their own version of “fajitas,” or marinated beef sauteed with vegetables. Tibs can be made with beef, but you’ll also find it made with lamb too. Although the meat-heavy dish is traditionally served on holidays and special occasions, you can find it on every Ethiopian menu in Houston.
- Firfir: Typically served for breakfast, Firfir is a spicy, tangy dish that gives you plenty of energy you need for the day. It is generally made with shredded injera, spiced clarified butter (called niter kibbeh in Amharic), and spicy berbere powder. There are two main varieties of fir-fir depending on the type of flat bread being used: the injera and the kit (a thin unleavened bread typically made of wheat).
Beverages: Coffee, Tej, and More
Ethiopia offers a variety of beverages to complement your meal:
- Coffee: Coffee junkies can thank Ethiopia for introducing the caffeinated bean to the rest of the world. It still plays a central role in Ethiopian society today, with coffee ceremonies that include three rounds of the beverage, finger-food snacks such as popcorn and the burning of incense as you commune with friends over coffee that has been roasted, ground and prepared on the spot.
- Tej: While a coffee ceremony is the traditional way to close out a meal, I prefer tej. The honey wine has the thick sweetness of mead but with an orange blossom lightness to it that’s intoxicating. The traditional vessel for drinking tej is a rounded vase-shaped container called a berele, which looks like a laboratory flask.
- Fruit Juices: Everywhere you go in Ethiopia (and Eritrea), you will find rainbow-colored fruit juices served in cafes and street stalls. It is common to find a mixture of avocado, watermelon and mango juices.
How To Eat Ethiopian Food Properly | Cuisine Code | NowThis
Regional Restaurant Recommendations
Addis Ababa - Hotel Lobelia: It’s located just a 5-minute drive from the airport, in the up-and-coming Bole district that’s packed with restaurants and bars. The hotel has comfortable and spacious rooms, and great WiFi and a good breakfast spread.
Guassa Conservation Area - Guassa Community Lodge: It feels like the middle of nowhere here and is great for getting disconnected and being deep in nature. You’ll have to bring your own food to cook and don’t expect any heating (it gets extremely cold at night!).
Dessie - Leul Hotel: It’s a simple place that’s very cheap and relatively comfortable.
Lalibela - Seven Olives Hotel: It is the oldest hotel in Lalibela and also the most established.
Gonder - Queen Taytu Guesthouse: It’s quite basic, but gives a run for your money due to its great location and not-too-scruffy rooms.
Bahir Dar/Lake Tana - Papyrus Hotel: It was the second best place we stayed at.
