#59 Burundi
- Jen
- Feb 7, 2023
- 3 min read
One night last week, I woke up at 4am and decided I was far too hungry for sleeping. I went downstairs, nailed a bowl of Bran Flakes, and went back to bed. This was eight hours after a plate of spaghetti meatballs, and five hours before the next bowl of cereal.
Two thoughts occurred to me. 1: Must buy milk tomorrow. 2: I am very privileged. I have such easy access to all the food that my body and greed require. The only time I have ever had to worry about where my next meal was coming from was at the end of a semester at university when I’d spent my entire student loan on Apple VKs.
Burundi is in East Africa, landlocked between Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania and Rwanda.
Life for most Burundians is less midnight snacks and frivolous spending, and more political unrest, disease, human rights violations, and food insecurity. Burundi is densely populated with most people reliant on subsistence agriculture. The rapidly growing population, deforestation, soil degradation and extreme poverty contribute to the chronic hunger of many. Over half of children in Burundi have stunted growth due to malnourishment.
Burundi is the poorest country in the world.
Burundian food
Meat is scarce for most people in Burundi. However, Burundi’s largest city and economic capital, Bujumbura, is situated on the edge of one of the African Great Lakes, Lake Tanganyika. It is the second oldest lake in the world, second biggest, second deepest, but first longest, over 17 times the length of Loch Ness. For those for those who can afford it, the lake provides fish, including indagala, a tiny fish endemic to Lake Tanganyika which are often fried and eaten whole.
Another fun freshwater body in Burundi is the Kagera River, which begins on the border with Rwanda and feeds Lake Victoria, and subsequently the White Nile, making Burundi the country that can boast the source of the Nile!
A Burundian diet can be summed up in five words: banana, sweet potato (ok, six words), corn, cassava, beans.
Bananas are eaten as snacks; fried slices of plantain make great side dishes; and agotoke is a variety of green banana and a meal in its own right when boiled and mashed with leek, garlic, tomatoes and spices. This is similar to matoke in Uganda, which held the record for being my least favourite Cook The World meal for almost 20 countries!
Potatoes were introduced to Burundi in the early 20th century by the Germans and sweet potatoes in particular have become a significant crop. In Burundi they come in various colours: orange, yellow, white, and are usually eaten boiled.
In Burundi, they call it ubugali. This very stiff corn porridge of sorts is staple calories in sub-Saharan Africa, and goes by many names: posho, pap-pap, fufu, nshima. You can see my take on pap-pap and nshima in the Lesotho and Zambia posts.
Cassava is left out in the sun to dry, ground into a flour and mixed with water and wrapped in banana leaves to form uburobe, a filling dough that can be eaten on its own or with soups. Cassava leaves are boiled, sometimes with other vegetables, to make a nutritious dish called isombe. Renga renga is similar, made with potato leaves or spinach and includes peanuts. These sorts of vegetable stews are typically African, and much like Congolese fumbwa.
"Peak into any Burundian plate and you will find beans". Beans are a very important source of protein in a diet with little meat. Ibiharage is a popular dish of fried kidney beans with spices and slices of plantain. Alternatively, beans can simply be boiled together with any available vegetables.
Burundian-inspired bean soup
Green beans and haricot beans, with leek, sweet potato, carrot and cabbage.
Simple, honest nourishment.
Soup now, cereal later, and then…ECUADOR.
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