Exploring Tanzania: Breaking Bread in Mto Wa Mbu Village

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Mto Wa Mbu Village is a cultural melting pot in Tanzania's East Africa Great Rift Valley on the road to Serengeti National Park.
Traveling via a tuk-tuk brings a thrill to any journey; it's like cruising around in an automated rickshaw. My husband and I sputtered past lean-tos with vendors selling tires, propane, wireless phone access, and everyday goods in Tanzania . During our ride, we saw people selling vegetables and women sitting on the side of the road sifting rice through giant baskets. Our cherry red tuk-tuk chugged into a spot next to the vegetable market in Mto Wa Mbu. Our journey to this Tanzanian village began with a search for the perfect ingredients to bring to Mama Franks for a home-cooked meal. I'm excited to prepare a meal together and learn about Chagga Tribe traditions.
Ready to go in our little red tuk-tuk. Photo courtesy Margaret Timberlake
Mto Wa Mbu Village in Tanzania
Mto Wa Mbu Village is a cultural melting pot in the East Africa Great Rift Valley on the road to Serengeti National Park . This fertile land with ever-flowing water sources brings 120 tribes together. As a result, this intersection of cultures and agriculture brings this divergent community together to live in harmony. I enjoyed listening to the tribes playfully teasing each other about their ways of life.
The Significance of the Great Rift
The East Africa Great Rift Valley is a lowland produced when tectonic plates drifted apart. Lakes are plentiful on the floor of the valley, and Mto Wa Mbu, translated to River of Mosquitos in Swahili, benefits from the waters flowing through these plains.
The river, lakes, and climate make Mto Wa Mbu the center of agriculture and commerce. This village, in some ways, is the bread basket of Africa. Trucks laden with locally grown red onions roll through town, and motorbikes weighed down with freshly picked bananas zoom by.
Zipping through Mto Wa Mbu village. Photo by Julie Dee Suman
Wandering the Bountiful Market in Tanzania
Spices, rice, aubergine, beans, and the region's famous red bananas are plentiful in this village of 40,000 people. The aroma of cumin and cinnamon drew our group to a vendor for a lesson on identifying spices by scent. I got lucky and guessed masala as the first spice, but from then on, it went downhill for me. Thankfully others in the group faired better at identifying the fragrant seasonings. The market was full of life that morning. Curious children watched us explore the vast selection of vegetables. We filled small bags with red onions, giant garlic bulbs, coconuts, and juicy tomatoes, which only cost one dollar.
Exploring Mama Frank’s Banana Plantation in Tanzania
Part of our group jetted off in their tuk-tuks to Mama Frank's banana plantation, while the rest of us opted to walk through the plantation. Three-quarters of Mto Wa Mbu consists of banana plantations. Every part of the banana is utilized here. Locals make beer, eat the flowers with pork, and use the bark for roofs.  The Chagga Tribe produces a sour beer from fermented bananas and millet. Banana beer is used in many traditions, including problem-solving. For example, if two people have a conflict, we learned that they could sit down with a tribal elder and resolve their conflict over a shared cup of beer.
How Bananas Grow
Walking through the plantation was like exploring a tropical forest. We learned that green bananas grow in nine months while red bananas require one year, and each tree only produces one bunch. However, each bunch is worth $10, and Mama Frank's family owns 4 acres. This farm yields enough income for the family. The plantation only requires three men to maintain it. The banana trees don't depend on rain. Instead, water is diverted from the river via an irrigation system every two weeks. In a form of self-renewal, new trees are planted from shoots that sprout from the tree's base.
Wandering through Mama Frank’s banana plantation. Photo by Julie Dee Suman
Cooking a Traditional Meal in Tanzania
We finally arrived with a hearty welcome from Mama Frank and her family. Mama Frank explained that her firstborn son is named Frank, so she became Mama Frank. Later, we met her grandson Brian and assistant Mama Hamisi, and we went to work in the outdoor kitchen. Our group began cracking coconuts and chopping our market bounty. Meanwhile, I was relegated to taking photos because my group decided my knife skills were lacking. The men in our group took turns straddling a small bench with a blade to shave the coconut. Meanwhile, Mama Frank started simmering a pot of red onions. We learned we were making a traditional Chagga meal, machalari —a hearty beef and banana stew. We added shredded carrots that lent a sweetness to the mixture. Next, Mama Frank showed us how to extract milk from the freshly shredded coconut, and we added red bananas that gave the dish a hearty texture, like adding a potato. The coconut milk brought a creaminess to the stew, and we sautéed up some eggplant to accompany our meal.
We enjoyed meeting Mama Frank and her family. Photo by Julie Dee Suman
A Time to Share
Finally, it was time to sit down together and enjoy our hard work. For dessert, we dined on slices of gigantic avocados alongside red bananas. The creamy freshness of the avocados was the perfect accompaniment to the savory stew. The pungent garlic and sweet carrots shone through and complimented the beefy goodness. I had never had a red banana and was surprised at the dense texture. Although red bananas are not as sweet as green bananas, they did make a satisfying ending to the meal. During our meal, Mama Frank shared that she inherited the property from her father. She and her husband have lived there for twenty years. The property has a Lutheran prayer house next to the outdoor kitchen and a lovely three-bedroom house with tropical flower gardens; this is where she and her family call home.
A bountiful plate awaits. Photo by Julie Dee Suman
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Lasting Memories of Tanzania
I've always enjoyed visiting the homes of locals when I travel. These experiences provide unique insight into the people and their traditions, shedding new light on a destination. Of course, family and hard work are core tenants here in Tanzania, but so is generosity. Mama Frank graciously shared her home with us, and I plan to relive some of that trip by recreating our special meal stateside. Whether you are planning a trip to Tanzania, another country on the African continent, or a completely different exotic place in the world, let Wander with Wonder help you plan your next adventure.
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Exploring Tanzania: Breaking Bread in Mto Wa Mbu Village
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