Ethiopian food is one of the world's most unique, fascinating and delicious cuisines. In addition to its flavorful traditional dishes, stews, and spices, Ethiopian cuisine also features a strong culture around how food is served and shared with friends and family.

This Ethiopian food guide drawn from our food-focused travels across the country includes an extensive list of traditional Ethiopian dishes to try, how to eat Ethiopian food, and what sort of flavors and spices might you find when you visit Ethiopia or an Ethiopian restaurant at home.

When we headed to Ethiopia, I went packing with high expectations of the food. Years ago, I was fortunate enough to be introduced to Ethiopian food fresh out of university.

In Washington, D.C., just new to world cuisine, I clearly recall my first pull of a round stretchy pancake-like injera bread, beautifully colored mounds of what looked to me like curries, and a massive circular tin plate from which we all grabbed and chowed down.

The flavors and communal style of eating was cool and unusual, like nothing I had experienced before. I wanted to learn more.

After praising Ethiopian food upon our return from our trip to Ethiopia, I was surprised by how little awareness seemed to exist not only of Ethiopian dishes, but also of the distinct existence of the cuisine itself. This was even among some friends I consider well-traveled and food aware.

This isn’t terribly surprising. After all, how often do you hear someone raving about and posting photos of cuisine from sub-Saharan Africa?

With its rich, spicy stews and diversity of flavors, Ethiopian food surely qualifies as one the world’s great stand-alone cuisines.

Considering the country’s history and geography, particularly in situ, it makes sense. The cuisine follows the culture, formed and informed by millennia of trade and exchange with the Middle East, Asia and the Mediterranean. Amidst this storm of positive culinary influence, acquired spices blend with Ethiopia’s indigenous ingredients.

And, poof! You get Ethiopian food, a unique table befitting the context.

Here’s what we discovered about Ethiopian food during our time traveling in the country: from the basic ingredients and spices that make the cuisine so unique to some of our favorite Ethiopian foods, traditional dishes and drinks.

Let’s dig in!

Note: This post was originally published on June 27, 2014 and updated on August 20, 2022.

How to Eat Ethiopian Food

Eating Ethiopian food is a social event, a shared experience that includes everyone around the table and usually involves eating with ones hands thanks to the use of injera (Ethiopian bread) as a sort of utensil. This is not only delicious but also a shocking amount of fun!

Injera (Ethiopian Bread)

Ethiopian food without injera might be considered heresy by Ethiopians. This spongy pancake-like flatbread made from fermented tef (a gluten-free grain indigenous to Ethiopia) is fundamental to every Ethiopian meal.

Injera features a slightly sour flavor that comes from the fermentation of its primary ingredient, a grain called tef. Although we enjoy eating injera, for some it may be an unusual, if not acquired, taste. The tangy flavor, however, seems well-designed to complement the flavors found in Ethiopian stews.

In traditional Ethiopian restaurants and homes you’ll often find circles of injera rolled out like a natural plate, atop which are arranged a smattering of spicy stews, cooked vegetables and salads (see Mixed Platters below). Although the presentation may appear similar to that of an Indian thali, the flavors and style is uniquely Ethiopian.

Injera is meant to be eaten with your hands. Tear off a small bit with your right hand (as in many countries, eating with one's left hand is a no-no in Ethiopia) and scoop bits of the stews and various dishes into it, forming a bite sized food parcel and gingerly tuck it into your mouth.

Don’t feel embarrassed if you get some of the stew or sauce on your fingers in the process – it’s natural and is part of the fun. Tempted though you may be to lick your fingers, know that Ethiopians don't care for that practice, either.

Injera tip to beat all injera tips: the best bits of injera are the spice- and sauce-infused patches underneath the piles of stew on the tray!

Restaurants will usually bring out baskets full of additional napkin-rolled injera rounds. One thing is almost certain in Ethiopia – you'll never ever have to worry about running out of injera during a meal!

It's unlikely you'll ever emerge hungry from a meal with lots of injera, as it fills the stomach for hours. After a big lunch in Ethiopia, it's rare that we ate a full dinner later in the day, if we ate at all.

Ethiopian Mixed Platters: Meat and Vegetarian

The best place to begin with Ethiopian food is to order a mixed platter – meat, vegetarian, or both — so that you can sample a variety of stews (wats) and dishes at one sitting. Although the mounds delivered to your table may individually appear small, collectively the portions are often staggeringly large. We recommend sharing a plate with others so you don't feel overwhelmed or overeat.

Although some dishes may appear regularly in mixed platters, the ones that comprise yours will likely be based on whatever happens to be cooked fresh that day. Always a tasty surprise!

Maheberawi (Meat Mixed Platter)

Ethiopian meat-based mixed platters usually combine several stews like key wat (beef stew), tibs (lamb, beef or goat cubes cooked with nitter kibeh and herbs like rosemary), and kitfo (raw ground beef). We highly recommend ordering one of these and sharing it with at least two to three people.

Yetsom Beyaynetu (Vegetarian Mixed Platter)

Also known as a fasting platter, yetsom beyaynetu is a mixed vegetarian platter that usually includes several types of lentil and split pea stews (e.g., misir wat, alecha kik or mesir kik) with kale (gomen) and a spicy tomato stew (sils). Talk about a vegetarian – if not a vegan — dream.

Yetsom Beyaynetu is usually available in restaurants in Ethiopia on Wednesday and Friday when practicing Orthodox Ethiopians (the majority of the population) forego meat and dairy products. These dishes are also readily available during the fasting periods before Ethiopian Orthodox Christmas and Easter.

Bigger restaurants that are more accustomed to foreigners may offer a vegetarian fasting plate every day, while smaller local restaurants may not.

Traditional Ethiopian Meat Dishes

Doro Wat (Chicken Stew)

This rich chicken stew is one of Ethiopia’s most famous dishes. We were told that when an Ethiopian girl wants to marry, she has to make doro wat for her fiancé’s family as a demonstration of her culinary proficiency and thus worthiness to be chosen as a wife. While this traditional cooking exam may still hold in rural areas, it is quickly dying out in Ethiopian cities.

Doro wat takes time to make, which is why in Ethiopia it is often only served during holidays and on special occasions. Because it is so tasty, it's a staple in Ethiopian restaurants around the world. It involves slow cooking red onions, berbere spice and chicken parts for hours, until just the right consistency and blend of flavors has been achieved.

We were fortunate to enjoy a home-cooked version of doro wat at our guide’s friend’s girlfriend’s house. Though the connection was tenuous and the meal difficult to photograph, the taste was wonderful.

Doro wat may be difficult to find at restaurants in Ethiopia due to the amount of time it takes to prepare, but it is worth the extra effort to seek it out. Ask your guide, other locals and hotel or restaurant staff well in advance of your meal and they may be able to point you in the direction of where to find it. If it’s not on a restaurant’s standard menu, ask if you can pre-order it for that night or for the following day.

Minchet (Spicy Ground Beef Stew)

Quite often our favorite meat dish, minchet is often placed at the center of a maheberawi (mixed meat plate). This ground meat stew is made from simmered red onions blended with ground beef and berbere. It’s often served topped with a boiled egg or two. Apparently you can ask for a low-spice version, too.

Key Wat (Spicy Beef Stew)

Similar to minchet, but made with meat chunks instead of minced meat. Also served with a boiled egg on top, in the middle of a mixed plate.

Tibs (Stir-Fried Meat)

Cubes of meat (beef, lamb or goat) stir-fried with onions, peppers and other vegetables in niter kibbeh. Quite often, twigs of rosemary or other herbs are added to it. Tibs can also be served spicy with some berbere thrown in. A simple and unassuming dish that's got more flavor than you would imagine.

Gomen Be Sega (Meat with Vegetables)

Beef or lamb simmered in copious amounts of niter kibbeh with collard greens and other vegetables like carrots, cabbage and onions. On the occasions we tried gomen be sega, the meat was tough but the vegetables were absolute perfection thanks to the blended flavor of the meat and spiced clarified butter.

Kitfo

Kifto, raw lean ground beef blended with berbere, is another signature dish of Ethiopia. Think of it as the Ethiopian version of the French raw beef steak tartare. As such, visitors will earn bonus points from locals for eating this. Before you judge kitfo and yell “OMG, raw meat in Ethiopia!”, we suggest you give it try. You may look at eating raw meat – and doing so in Ethiopia — in a whole new light.

Gored Gored

Raw meat fine dining at its best. Gored gored features raw cubes of the highest quality beef warmed slightly in spiced Ethiopian butter (niter kibbeh) and turned with berbere spice. Even if you try kitfo and decide that raw meat is not for you, we recommend that you still give gored gored a try. When done well, it’s a spectacularly flavored and textured dish.

Fir-Fir (or Fit-Fit)

Made of sliced pieces of injera turned in berbere sauce or leftover wat, fir-fir is a traditional and hearty (some may say heavy) way to start your day.

Kolo (Roasted Barley)

Kolo became our go-to beer snack at the end of the day. It’s often served mixed with peanuts and other seeds or nuts. Hearty and healthy, it pairs nicely with a St. George beer at the end of a long day.

Traditional Ethiopian Vegetarian Dishes

Ethiopian food can be very vegetarian and vegan friendly since it features a selection of standard vegetarian dishes that you'll find available at almost every Ethiopian restaurant.

Vegetarians and vegans traveling to Ethiopia should consider visiting just prior to Orthodox Easter and Orthodox Christmas as you will be virtually guaranteed to find vegetarian food everywhere at this time. During these periods, more strict Ethiopians observe a fast and forgo meat and dairy products for upwards of 50 days.

Fasting plates served during these periods are terrifically delicious, and may not always be available in restaurants during non-fasting periods — particularly when locals are ravenous for meat, just after the conclusion of the fast.

Shiro (Chickpea Stew)

Both a fast food and a fasting food, shiro is a vegetarian stew made from chickpea flour mixed with berbere and other spices. It can be served either thick (tagamino) or thin (feses). Although shiro often serves as the center of a yetsom beyaynetu fasting plate, you’ll also find it served on its own. For vegetarians, this is reliable and widely available.

Mesir Wat (Red Lentil Stew) and Kik Wat (Split Pea Stew)

A rich and spicy red lentil stew, mesir wat was among our favorite staples on a fasting plate. Made with sautéed onions, berbere, cardamom and other spices, misir wat is the ultimate vegetarian comfort food.

A similarly styled stew made with split peas is called kik wat.

Kik Alicha (Split Pea Stew)

A non-spicy split pea stew made with turmeric, kik alicha helps balance out all the other flavors and spice on an Ethiopian plate. Although kik alicha does not pack a lot of heat, it still features a lot of flavor.

Gomen (Kale or Collard Greens)

Gomen is a simple, flavorful dish made from kale (or collard greens), onions, niter kibbeh and other spices sauteed and simmered together. Gomen made a regular appearance on vegetarian platters and is a welcome addition amongst all those lentils and beans.

Sils (Tomato Stew)

A savory tomato stew made from blended roasted onions, tomatoes, and berbere, sils provides a one-part tart and one-part sweet balance to the greens and beans on a vegetarian platter.

If you tire of injera and traditional food and order pasta in Ethiopia, it’s likely that sils will form the base of your pasta’s red sauce. A unique and roasted twist on Italian pasta sauce.

Ethiopian Spices, Seasonings, and Hot Sauces

If you enjoy heat like we do then you'll enjoy the spices and that are fundamental to Ethiopian cuisine. And, if you'd like to further spice your Ethiopian meal here are a couple of additional spice condiment items to consider requesting at an Ethiopian restaurant. Not only will your food be spicier, but you’ll also likely impress or puzzle your hosts with the request.

Berbere

The signature red spice mound that delivers magic to most Ethiopian stews, berbere is composed of ground semi-spicy chili peppers (which themselves are called berbere to further confuse) mixed with upwards of 20 individual herbs, spices and ingredients including garlic, cumin, coriander, ginger, and fenugreek.

Mitmita

Mitmita is another core spice blend composed of chili peppers (smaller and hotter than berbere), cardamom seed, cloves and salt. While mitmita is often turned in meat dishes to add an extra kick during the cooking process, it's also used as a condiment to lend some additional heat to the meal on one's plate.

Niter Kibbeh

Niter kibbeh, a spiced clarified butter similar to Indian ghee, is one of Ethiopia’s secret, magic ingredients that we all ought to know more about. It's also pure culinary fusion inspiration.

Niter kibbeh is made by cooking butter together with a raft of ingredients including onions, garlic and ginger and spices like fenugreek, cumin, turmeric, cardamom, cinnamon and nutmeg. After a long simmer, the solids are then strained away from the concoction leaving a delicious clarified butter that adds both richness and distinction to most Ethiopian dishes, especially tibs (stir-fried meat), wats (stews), and gored gored (raw beef).

Awazi

A typical and traditional dark red spice sauce made of berbere blended with water or oil. In traditional Ethiopian restaurants unaccustomed to tourists, it’s typical for this to be served automatically with your meal. In Ethiopian restaurants that cater more to tourists, you may have to ask for it.

Da'ta

A thick, pulverized chili topping. We came across a red chili variety and a green variety that tasted like a blend of Ethiopian low-heat green chilis and green herbs.

Da'ta is especially good if you’d like to spice up western food (e.g., pasta) when you’re taking a break from traditional Ethiopian fare.

Ethiopian Coffee and Coffee Ceremonies

Coffee in Ethiopia, the land where it was first discovered, is a treat not only because the quality of the coffee is very high, but also because its preparation is careful and elaborate.

Regardless of whether you take your coffee in a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony or from an Italian espresso machine (a legacy of the short Italian occupation of Ethiopia during World War II), you are likely to be pleasantly surprised.

A traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony will likely take at least twenty minutes from start to finish for the first cup of coffee, but it is worth the wait. It begins with your host, always a woman, roasting raw green coffee beans in a pan over a small charcoal oven.

When the beans have finished roasting, your host will bring the pan to each person present so that he may enjoy the aroma. At the same time, she'll light some frankincense to purify and clear the air. Popcorn is usually served as a snack.

The boiled water and freshly ground coffee beans are mixed together in a jebena, a traditional coffee pot, and a magic process — one that only the host knows to ensure a perfect cup of strong coffee — ensues. The coffee is then poured gracefully into small, handleless cups.

Traditionally, a full coffee ceremony involves three rounds of coffee that proceed from strong (abol) to medium (tona) to weak (baraka), with the final round considered as bestowing a blessing on the coffee drinker.

Coffee ceremonies serve an important social function beyond the actual coffee consumed. Our guide told us that women in the community used to gather each afternoon for a coffee ceremony that takes several hours to finish, thereby ensuring ample time to discuss all news and family issues. Coffee meetings such as these rotate from house to house in a community group, so as to give each of the hosts a break.

Ethiopian Drinks

Tej (Honey Wine or Mead)

An Ethiopian local specialty, tej is a honey wine featuring varying degrees of sweetness. The first batch we tried was almost like a dessert wine (our guide called it “the children’s version”). We took our second taste of a cloudy, earthy and higher alcohol tej in a tej betoch (honey wine house) at Torpedo Tejbet nightclub in Lalibela.

Tej is usually served in a rounded vase-like or beaker-like glass container called a berele. Although it’s typical to order one berele per person, drinker beware if you manage to finish it all.

Tella

A traditional Ethiopian beer made from tef, barley, maize or other grains blended with a green herb called gesho. Tella is usually brewed at home. You'll often find it in grimy, nondescript plastic bottles lurking in the doorways of local homes. Alcohol concentrations vary widely.

Araki

During one of our monster lunch Ethiopian food gorging sessions, I asked Fekadu, our guide: “What do Ethiopians do when they get an upset stomach?”

His response without skipping a beat: “We take a shot of araki.”

Araki is essentially the Ethiopian version of grappa (firewater or moonshine, if you like). If the name sounds like Greek raki or Balkan rakia, that’s because it’s likely descended from or related to the Mediterranean distilled spirits of a similar name.

It’s made from gesho leaves and features an alcohol level of around 45%. No wonder it is good for an upset stomach. It likely kills anything in its path, bacteria included.

Ethiopian Beer

Talk to anyone who likes a beer about their experience in Ethiopia and they might wax long about St. George beer. It’s not an incredible beer — and there are certainly other, more complex beers for those who search — but it is tasty enough, particularly after a long day of rock-hewn church hopping.

Be sure to check out the St. George beer label in detail. It’s one of the more colorful and notable beer labels in this part of the world.

Other Ethiopian beers in order of our preference include Dashen, Bedele, Castel, Harar and Meta.

Ethiopian Wine

Ethiopia makes wine? Turns out that it does. We had no idea, either.

Although some Ethiopian wines are unimpressive — sweet and appropriate for aperitif drinking (e.g., Axumit) — it’s rumored that French winemakers have been brought on board to help.

If the oak aged Rift Valley Syrah 2013 (of Castel Winery) is any indication of the future, the situation for Ethiopian wine is looking up. This wine is drinkable straight out of the bottle (or aired for a bit) on its own or paired with doro wat, mesir wat or shiro.

Less remarkable, though still good, is the Rift Valley Merlot 2013.

Although restaurants and hotels may sell these wines at the equivalent of $15/bottle, we were able to find each of them at approximately $7 from a night club in Lalibela. It never hurts to ask.

Recommended Restaurants in Ethiopia

Kategna Restaurant, Addis Ababa: Highly recommended for gored gored as the meat is high quality and the flavor is incredibly delicious. The maheberawi (mixed meat platter) and gomen be segawere also spot on.

Lake Shore Restaurant, Bahir Dar: The best place (or us) in Ethiopia for kitfo. It also helped that this was Easter day so the meat was incredibly fresh and rolling out of the kitchen as if it were going out of style. Also recommended for maheberawi (mixed meat platter).

Four Sisters Restaurant, Gondar: The best yetsom beyaynetu (vegetarian mixed platter) we ate in Ethiopia. The staff may encourage the buffet as all the vegetarian dishes are there as well, but if you order the fasting plate straight from the menu it is cheaper and prettier, and still quite plentiful.

Seven Olives Restaurant, Lalibela: Some of the best gomen be sega in the country and runner up for yetsom beyaynetu.

Ethiopian Coffee at Tomoca, Addis Ababa: If you are looking for a truly outstanding espresso or macchiato, this is the place to go. This unassuming coffee roaster and café features a decor of a bygone era and serves up an incredibly rich brew at the hands of a couple masterful baristas. It's also a good place to purchase whole bean or ground Ethiopian coffee to take home as gifts.

Conclusion

Ethiopian food demonstrates that we are a product of cultural and culinary evolution. A blend of influences, experiments and vessels carrying flavors that were once unknown.

If you’d like some homework, we have a suggestion: find an Ethiopian restaurant near you, gather together some friends and go. Order a mixed platter, sample widely and marvel at the injera bread with your eyes and mouth.

This will inspire you to travel to Ethiopia one day.

Melkam megeb! (መልካም ምግብ)

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The post Ethiopian Food: A Culinary Guide to What to Eat and Drink appeared first on Uncornered Market.

I left my heart in San Francisco, but I left my hair in Ethiopia.

The danger sign was there, quite literally. The two hairstyle options apparently available to me at my Ethiopian barber shop of choice: Ricky Martin and Ludacris.

I was in northern Ethiopia with a mess I’d deliberately grown out for almost two months — saving myself, the African haircut virgin — and I was determined to navigate yet another haircut-as-cultural-experience. A World Wrestling Entertainment match, piped in from somewhere in the Middle East (who knew WWE needed subtitles?), blared on the television. All the men in the shop sported either dreadlocks or close cut afros.

Oh, the many forms of adventure travel we embrace.

Barber Shop Tourism. Why?

Sure, I seek traditional thrills while I travel. But I also pursue haircuts. I figure that barber shops serve as a window onto a culture. Haircuts have something to teach me about a place, and also my nerve.

I’ve had my ears torched in Turkey. I’ve enjoyed a 66-cent best-ever haircut in Peru (satisfying), a dazzling butt-cut grease comb in the mountains of Azerbaijan (horrifying), a birth control class with an Armenian barber in Yerevan (puzzling), a doom delivering barber in Malaysia (enlightening), and a street-side shave in Bangladesh that nearly halted traffic (unsettling), among a host of others.

I should note that Audrey, quite wisely and thankfully, does not share my curiosity.

A full account of haircut chronicles are forthcoming. To it I will add Ethiopia, a place that is known to me now as much for its deep culture as it is for its deep cuts.

The Hair Butcher of Gondar

I asked Fekadu, our dreadlocked guide, for barber shop recommendations in Gondar, a well-serviced looking town known for its collection of castles. Skeptical, he narrowed his eyes. In the most diplomatic tone he could muster, he tried to warn me off, “Ethiopia might not be the best place for a white guy like you to get a haircut.”

What did he know?

As it turns out, a lot.

The barbers looked a little thrown-off when I sat down in their chair. I might as well have been a fish. There was a distinct hesitation as to who would tackle this customer.

After puzzling for a pause, the one with a huge tattoo of Jesus Christ in a crown of thorns across his left bicep wrapped a cover around me. I pointed to the Ricky Martin poster in the window and offered a charade: “Ricky. Short on the side, little longer on top.”

He gave a quick nod in something that approximated acknowledgement and went to work.

It occurs to me that “work” here is a generous term. Wrecking balls do work, too.

Clippers. Lots of them. Attachments, too. Maybe a dozen. The odd thing was that the barber seemed to switch back and forth between various gauges of clipper extensions in random sequence and at random sites of my skull: number 4, then 9, then 6. Back, then side, then back again.

This struck me as unusual and dubious. Frightening and dangerous. In retrospect, I should have stood up, placed my hands together in a sort of gratitudinous prayer and walked out. Instead, I stuck with it.

My hair began to slough off in uneven chunks.

The barber and I shared no common verbal language. And charades carried their own special danger. There was no escape.

I retreated inward. “Maybe this won’t be so bad after all,” I attempted to console myself. I looked into the mirror, then to Audrey sitting along the back wall. I hoped she might intervene and save me. Instead, she buried her head in Ethiopian men's magazines.

I wouldn’t have watched, either.

For a brief moment, I became philosophical. Haircuts are instructive, I thought. For in haircuts — as in the whole of one’s life — there are no do-overs. Life is short. Abruptly, my hair was becoming so, too.

“Lean into it,” I thought.

As the buzzing continued, it was clear that I would look nothing like Ricky Martin or Ludacris, but rather their love child. Maybe even a little bit shorn, like Sigourney Weaver in Alien 3.

Just When You Think It Can’t Get Any Worse

What troubled me were all the little bits, bobs, and tufts that hadn’t quite been trimmed, rounded, tapered or faded properly.

The situation, however, would grow considerably worse.

The barber began to focus decreasing amounts of his already waning attention on my head and redirected it to the television. As his focus drifted to the TV, and greased bodies flew on the screen above him, so did his hand. He held the clippers in one hand and sparred in response to the fake brawl playing out on the television with the other. His movements took on a sort of involuntary quality, much like a dog’s might when you scratch its belly and you hit the spot.

Clearly, the wrestling match hit the spot for my barber. While he stabbed at the air with his left hand, his right hand got into the action. It was this right hand that really frightened me. In it were the still humming clippers and its vicinity was my unevenly shorn head.

This wasn’t so bad.

It was grim.

“Ummm, yes. My head,” I murmured quietly. I wished to make eye contact but I was afraid to move at all, for any sudden lurch might speed catastrophe. I imagined a zipper cut down a random lane of my skull.

Thankfully, one wrestler pinned the other, things simmered down, and my barber returned to work.

I’d exhausted any hope for the sides and the back. Thankfully, there was still a flappy tuft on top and flaky bangs in front.

Then he pulled out a short clipper and bee-lined straight for the bangs.

“But, but…” I murmured to myself, in that paralyzed “I’d like to scream, but I can’t” kind of sensation I’ve had during my worst nightmares. I could see the train wreck – like the one that spills over a mountainside and takes out an orphanage along the way — playing out in slow motion.

“He’s not really going to do this, is he?”

Then he did.

“Help…” A meek little voice cried out silently inside of me.

He cut straight under the bangs on the right side of my head. The shingle of hair that remained was probably less than a centimeter long. My head looked like a roof where the right pitch had been removed for repair.

I stared into the mirror in search of solace, paths of restoration.

There were none. The damage was virtually complete.

It was apparent my barber knew not of bangs nor of forward fringes. He left the tuft on top. I didn't take issue. Better to leave with the devil we know than to find the one we don't. As I alighted my chair and looked around the shop, no surprise. There were a few dreadlocks, and the others sheer afro cuts at the front of the head.

The barber tried to make me look just like everyone else in the shop.

How could I begrudge that?

The Verdict

I returned to meet our group for dinner, running my hand through the remaining hair to salvage tousle what remained, all in a painfully weak attempt to disguise the damage.

“Oh, it looks good,” they echoed. You know, the perfunctory bit everyone utters when she's shocked that you actually did THAT.

One of our companions took a first look, “Oh, not so bad.”

Then as she moved around, you could see the extent of the mess registering on her face. “Yes, it’s a little uneven.” As she wheeled to the back, “Ohh, yes…”

She didn’t need to finish the sentence. Easily, hands down to a hairy barbershop floor, it was my worst haircut ever.

Ludacris? Or ludicrous?

Fekadu looked at my hair and shook his head with a smile: “Yes. But, it was an experience.”

He was right. I got exactly what I’d come for.

Have a hair-raising moment of your own, or an odd travel routine that's your lens of cultural comparison? Sound off.

—–

The post My Date With An Ethiopian Hair Butcher appeared first on Uncornered Market.

Curious about Ethiopia and what you might experience there? From its ancient history and rock-hewn churches of Lalibela to its mountains, bustling markets, delicious cuisine, coffee ceremonies and more, here are a few reasons why you should travel to Ethiopia. We're almost certain you will be surprised by what you find.

When I was growing up, I remember Ethiopia having a long run on the nightly news. Unfortunately newscasts all pointed to the grim. Newsreel images featured fly-ridden babies with distended bellies, drought-ruined landscapes and a ravaging famine made only worse by civil war.

Sounding familiar?

Prior to our visit, we figured some distance between the Ethiopia of the 1980s and the Ethiopia of today — yet not quite to the extent we’d found. If our Ethiopia travels proved nothing else, it proved this: though countries remain themselves at heart, they can emerge from perilous circumstances. When they do, stereotypes can slowly be cast aside and the historical, cultural and natural contours – which had always existed yet never been highlighted – can more clearly be revealed.

As we shared photos of unexpected castles, remarkable mountain landscapes, ancient churches and colorful plates of local food during our trip, readers would ask: “Is that really Ethiopia?”

Yes it is.

Our unpacking of our travels in Ethiopia begins with a few first yet lasting impressions of the country.

1. Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity and Living History

Before our trip to Ethiopia, we were aware in a book sense that it was one of the earliest nations to adopt Christianity (in 330 A.D.). We did not imagine how pervasive and well-documented this historical vein would be, nor could we appreciate how much the country’s present would be connected with its past through ritual.

Whether they are rock-hewn or tucked far into the hills, Ethiopia's churches often feature original paintings and frescoes from as much as 1000 years ago or more. Ancient texts and relics remain in use by today’s priests who bless all those willing by rubbing large ancient metal crosses over afflicted areas of the body.

In the Gheralta Mountains of Tigray province, churches were carved out of natural mountaintop caves as long ago as the fourth century. Why build so? The idea: hide your churches from invading armies while bringing yourself that much closer to heaven.

Climbs were steep then, just as they are now — even for young mothers who carry 40-day old babies on their backs in hopes of peak baptism.

As we followed a 78-year old monk around a cliff’s edge to the 6th century cave church of Daniel Korkor, we could imagine a staggered line of devout Ethiopians making that same journey, wrapped in the same white cotton cloth, over the course of hundreds of years.

Ethiopia feels very much like a case study in living history. An experience that is as much about feeling an energy as it is about seeing the relics and remnants of an ancient history.

2. Land of Legends

“The story goes…

Ethiopian history blends fact and myth almost seamlessly. (Some may even say shamelessly.)

So much of Ethiopia’s identity is connected to its history, a history passed on orally which traces its roots back four thousand years to the Queen of Sheba, King Solomon and the Ark of the Covenant. For over a thousand years, Ethiopian kings claimed to be direct descendants of the line of Solomon, living connections between their country, its history, and the Holy Land.

Amidst all that, stories and legends circulate in a fog akin to a long-running historical version of the telephone game. Historians may argue as to the validity of any and all prevailing accounts, but as our guide suggested, “If you believe, then it is true to you. And we believe this is our heritage.”

Belief, it seems, trumps all.

3. Mountains and Desertscape Interactive

Until this visit, we never really considered Ethiopia for trekking and adventure, but our experiences in the Simien Mountains and Gheralta Mountains of Tigray set that straight.

Some of our most enjoyable moments and context: the Gheralta Mountains near the town of Hawzia in Ethiopia's Tigray province. Not only does the area surprise and stun with its Utah-reminiscent red rock backdrop and outcroppings, but treks to 1500-year old cave churches like Maryam Korkor and Daniel Korkor leave no adrenaline untapped as they force challenging climbs up sheer sandstone walls and precarious walks along narrow cliffs.

Not for the faint of heart or for those unwilling to press deeply into their fear of heights.

4. Ancient Language, Ancient Civilization

In and around the ancient sites that make up the modern day northern town of Aksum, stone tablets dating back thousands of years will often be inscribed in three languages: Greek, Arabic, and Ge'ez, an ancient Semitic language that predates Ethiopia's present-day regional languages. Giant stone obelisks stand, lean and have fallen. While most recognize the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Persia, Rome and Greece among the greats, few know of the similarly advanced Aksumite civilization which made its name in trade across the Middle East, Mediterranean and Asia from 400 B.C. to 800 A.D.

It's thanks to Ge'ez, a long-standing written language, that we now know so much about Ethiopia's past.

All monks and priests are required to learn Ge'ez and services are still held in this ancient language. In the early hours of the morning, Ge'ez chants and melodies echo through the hills. Eerie, beautiful and sleep-challenging, especially during the high holidays.

With over 200 symbols, Ge'ez– a mesmerizing spaghetti of symbols to the uninitiated — now serves as the phonetic alphabet for Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia.

5. Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony

There’s nothing more disappointing than a coffee-producing country that does not actively consume and appreciate what it grows. No worry of this in Ethiopia: they not only grow the beans, but they also carry a proficiency in roasting, so much so that coffee roasting seems a rite of passage for young women across the country. Unsurprising considering that Ethiopia’s Kaffa region is where coffee is said to have originated.

The Ethiopian coffee ceremony is deliberate, a process that has been handed down through generations of Ethiopian women for centuries. It has an almost magical way of seeming to slow time, if not stop it altogether.

Coffee is central to Ethiopian life and pace. You'll find coffee ceremonies taking place throughout the country in cafes, on street corners, in markets and most importantly in homes. Fronds and greens scattered on the ground, frankincense alight and in a pot, young green coffee beans roasting in a small pan over a charcoal stove, a delicate passing of water through the grounds until the ideal strength is achieved.

Coffee drinkers rejoice. All others, just behold.

6. Ethiopian Food

In our experience, Africa rarely garners an “Ooh, awesome food!” distinction. Ethiopian cuisine is an exception, one of the great cuisines of the world, I’d venture. In any event, it stands out against its neighbors with an array of rich and spicy stews.

Ask an Ethiopian the most important part of any meal and she'll answer injera, the spongy, stretchy pancake-like flatbread made from fermented tef (a gluten-free grain indigenous to Ethiopia). Injera forms the foundation of every Ethiopian meal. You’ll often find a round of injera spread out like a natural platter atop which a variety of spicy stews made from lentils, meats and vegetables blended with spices blends like berbere (ground chilies mixed with upwards of 15-20 ingredients) are piled.

Although the presentation and flavor hints of an Indian thali, the Ethiopian table is very much unto itself.

We'll reserve further comment on Ethiopian cuisine for now, as we have written a comprehensive guide on it, from how to eat it to why you should consider a deep dive during the vegetarian fasting season or avail yourself of its raw beef specialties during the remainder of the year.

7. Traditional Music and Eskista Shoulder Dancing

Think “dancing in Africa” and you might appropriately imagine hips and butts moving and shaking in ways that blow the mind of those not of the continent. But in northern Ethiopia, the shoulders and upper body are the stars of the dancing show in something called eskista.

Traditional night clubs usually feature a group of professional dancers, but even better than those are the impromptu “dance offs” between two club-goers who try to out-shoulder one another. The beat, the energy, the atmosphere — all superbly infectious.

Even we got into the act.

Next up to make the leap from local music to the world stage: Ethiopian.

8. Kids, Kids

Our bus pulls off for a potty break in bushes or trees (a “bush stop” in local travel parlance) in what most might consider the middle of nowhere Ethiopia. Even here, the children appear out of the woodwork, from the hills up, the valleys down.

Where do all the children come from?! I won't bore you with a lesson as to how those children are conceived, but population estimates in Ethiopia hover around 95 million, with projections topping 120 million in the next 15 years or so. Staggering.

Note: Kids and pens? We have published another piece on the unfortunate practice of tourists indiscriminately giving pens and money to kids in developing countries — a practice that has slowly but surely “trained” them to beg.

9. Ethiopian Roads Overflow with Life

Much the world over, vehicles take first priority on the roads. Not so in Ethiopia.

From village lanes to full-fledged highways, the Ethiopian road is ruled by a fog of people, animals (sheep, goats, cows, donkeys, camels), lean-tos, funerals, weddings and more. Cars and buses get out of the way of what was happening on the street, not the other way around. If you remember the video game Frogger, this is the live version. One unfortunate result: road carnage. Heaps of tarp-draped remains of horrifying wrecks stand testament to a country coming to grips with the old ways of doing things converging with the unappreciated power of new vehicles on paved roads.

10. Market Days are Social Days

“Markets are not just for buying and selling. They perform an important social function. Most Ethiopians work in the fields, so market day is when people have a chance to meet, share news, and even find the person they will marry,” Fekadu, our guide, explained.

You can always tell market days in rural areas. For kilometers on end, roads are clogged even more so than usual with people from all neighboring villages carrying their goods to market – sheep, goats, wares, foodstuffs. It doesn’t matter how much or how little you have to sell: any and all are clearly welcome.

And they’re coming.

Ethiopian traditional markets are sprawling affairs with goods arranged accordingly: all the peppers here, all the green coffee beans there, homeopathic treatment for the cows somewhere in an open field in the distance.

Beyond the sale, these markets bind this primarily agrarian society. They provide an essential social focal point — not just for the trade of goods, but for the trade in life.

And in Ethiopia, there's certainly no shortage of that.

Our experiences above were from the G Adventures Discover Ethiopia Tour. If you plan to book this or another tour with G Adventures, please consider starting the process by clicking on one of the links above. The price stays the same to you and we earn a small commission. Thank you!

The post Travel to Ethiopia: Why Visit and What Might Surprise You appeared first on Uncornered Market.

The story of the rock-carved churches of Lalibela goes: almost 900 years ago in Ethiopia there lived a visionary king named Lalibela.

Lalibela traveled far and wide, including an extended pilgrimage he took to Jerusalem, after which he brought back home to Ethiopia all he'd seen and learned.

When Muslims conquered Jerusalem in the late 12th century and it became too dangerous for devout Ethiopian Christians to make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem itself, Lalibela fashioned a work-around: to build a New Jerusalem in his home country.

But this New Jerusalem was no ordinary holy place.

Construction was a remarkable feat of execution. Once the rough shape of the structure was carved away from the rock, work would then begin on carving the church from the outside in.

Remember: all of this engineering took place 900 years ago without the aid of today's machinery and sophisticated measurement tools. No wonder local legend says that Lalibela claims to have had a vision of the churches — including detailed instruction as to how they ought to be built — directly from God.

What makes these churches even more remarkable: they have been used continually, filling with hundreds of people chanting and praying every Sunday for almost 900 years.

Ethiopia is a land of living history where you can get a glimpse of the past through present-day society and culture. Read more about this fascinating country in Ethiopia: First Impressions and Ethiopian Food: An Overview.

The post The Ancient Rock-Carved Churches of Lalibela, Ethiopia appeared first on Uncornered Market.

Our journey to East Africa, just about underway. What follows includes not only our itinerary and a call for your recommendations, but a personal note and a couple of back-stories including $100 given to us with a purpose on a ship in Antarctica.

As you read this, we're on our way to Ethiopia to begin a six week journey through Eastern Africa. We expect the journey to take us from Ethiopia to Uganda, Rwanda and finally Tanzania.

We'll have an opportunity to visit 1000-year old rock-cut churches in Ethiopia (and of course dig deeply into Ethiopian food), seek out mountain gorillas in Uganda, hike the volcanoes of Rwanda and learn more about social entrepreneurship in Tanzania.

Tanzania aside, these countries have known their share of famine, war, and genocide in the last couple of decades. And while we hope to learn more about that history, our ultimate goal is to better understand their people, where they stand now, and get a glimpse into their future through their eyes.

Our East Africa Itinerary

Ethiopia

In the mid-1980s, when I was a little girl, my Aunt Betsy worked as a nurse for a year or two in Ethiopia at a feeding station. For Ethiopia, it was a time of drought and famine. I recall sad images, nothing short of devastating. However, my aunt had a first-hand experience of the famine, and despite the suffering she witnessed day-in and day-out, she also shared stories of the warmth and spirit of the Ethiopian people.

Count this among my first learning of the lesson, “there's more to a place and its people than what you see on the news.”

We will explore Ethiopia with the G Adventures Highlights of Ethiopia Tour. We chose this tour specifically for its itinerary. Take a look below and you'll see why.

• Bahir Dar with a visit to the local market and Blue Nile Falls
• Gondar with exploration of the castles and Debre Berhan Selassie Church whose interior is covered with angel faces and eyes.
• Hiking in the Simien Mountains. Take a look at the lead photo of this article. Enough said.
• Lalibela. This segment of the trip might count as the one we're most looking forward to. I'd heard about the underground medieval churches carved into the mountains, but this recent article took my curiosity to a new level.
• A drive through the Sekota and Alamata Mountains with a stop at 3,000-year old Hawzien.
• Ancient city of Axum, Ethiopia's oldest city of almost 2,000 years.
• Although we won't have much time in Addis Ababa, we do hope we will be able to visit Merkato, the largest open market in Africa.

Ethiopian food, you ask? We've had our share in cities around the world, but now it's time to taste it at the source. To say that we are excited to eat: understatement. We expect to consume plenty of Ethiopian coffee and experience a coffee ceremony or two.

Uganda and Rwanda

We'll begin our travels in Uganda with a G Adventures gorillas overland tour. Our trek will take us to the forests near Lake Bunyon to find mountain gorillas. Friends who've experienced this have described a feeling unimaginable, if not unmatched. We must manage our expectations, however, as we know there are no guarantees that we'll actually be able to spot gorillas.

That's the thing with wild animals. True to their description, they are indeed a wild and unpredictable bunch.

Our trip will also include trekking in search of chimpanzees at Kalinzu Forest Reserve and a rafting experience along the Blue Nile near the town of Jinja, all before returning to Kampala.

After our tour, we're free for the next two weeks between Uganda and Rwanda and we'll piece together an itinerary (with the help of your suggestions) as we go. At the moment our Rwanda plans include spending some time in the Parc National des Volcans and Lake Kivu for some volcano trekking and perhaps a visit to Nyungwe Forest National Park before winding up in Kigali.

As the 20th Anniversary of the Rwandan genocide has just passed, it strikes us as an appropriate time to visit to reflect on what happened and through the eyes of others, understand how the country copes and looks towards the future as it continues to come to terms with its past.

We could use your help. If you have suggestions of places to visit, what to do, organizations and people to connect with, or anything else that comes to mind regarding Uganda and Rwanda please email us or leave a comment below.

Tanzania

Some of you might remember our visit to Tanzania a few years ago when we climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, got up close with wild animals on safari and relaxed on the beaches of Zanzibar.

This time, our visit to Tanzania will feature something a bit different. We are working with Planeterra, G Adventures' foundation, to learn more about two new projects it runs in and around Moshi: a clean cookstoves project in a Maasai village and a women's cooperative in Moshi that provides business skills and training to local women.

What makes these projects unique to traditional NGO projects is that G Adventures' passenger traffic — and the market access that provides — are tied in to help make these projects financially sustainable. For example, G Adventures tours to the Serengeti use a portion of tour fees to serve as contribution to the purchase of a clean cookstove. Additionally, travelers have the opportunity to visit the village to learn more about how the stoves work and what it means for quality of life. Those G Adventures passengers in Moshi will be able to stop by the women's cooperative center to engage with the women involved and to purchase their goods.

Our goal: to understand the local organizations and people involved. And to see firsthand how this sort of partnership model actually works on the ground.

$100 in East Africa: A Backstory

A little more than four years ago, aboard our ship to Antarctica, we were asked to give a talk about our around-the-world travels. As we shared stories from Central Asia to Central America, we shared all sorts of travel stories, including some of what we had seen in the way of micro-finance projects along the way. We mentioned to the audience that we hoped to travel in Africa next. After the presentation, a well-traveled British woman came up to us and placed $100 in my hand in twenty dollar bills.

“When you get to East Africa, give this money to five good organizations you find, to people who are really making a difference in their communities. I spent many years working with projects in this region, and specifically Uganda and Rwanda. But now I'm too old to travel there. I want you to bring part of me with you when you go.”

I asked for her name and email address so that I could follow up with her and inform her as to where and to whom we gave her money, but she didn't want any of that. She told us that trusted us; she believed we would do the right thing.

Although it has taken longer to getting around to make it to the full of East Africa in order to fulfill her wish, we are now on our way.

One Final Personal Note on this Trip

A week ago I received news that my stepfather, Larry, passed away. Amidst the sadness we felt, we also found ourselves deciding whether to cancel the trip and when to return to the U.S. to honor him.

As I spoke to both family and friends that knew Larry, it became clear — with an imagined motion of his hand — that he would have wanted us to go. Everyone agreed he would have said something like this:

“Go. Explore. Meet people. Tell good stories. And be sure to share stories from people and places that don’t usually have a voice. And have lots of fun, too.”

Good advice for us. Good advice in general, I'd like to think.

You see, East Africa was one of Larry’s favorite regions in the whole world. He spent years living, working and traveling in Tanzania and Kenya as U.S. diplomat. And although he also served in other parts of Africa — including an ambassadorship to Gabon and a nice, posh placement in London along the way, East Africa was and always would be the place that stole his heart.

Stepping back, spiritual or otherwise, one might find the coming together of this trip — to be able to spend the next six weeks in an area Larry loved and knew well — as beyond mere coincidence.

Photo credits: Rod_Waddington, Henrik Berger Jørgensen, amateur_photo_bore.

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