Common foods and dishes

Eritrean food habits vary regionally. In the highlands, injera is the staple diet and eaten daily among the Tigrinya. When eating, diners generally share food from a large tray placed in the centre of a low dining table. Numerous pieces of injera are layered on this tray and topped with various spicy stews. Diners break into the section of injera in front of them, tearing off pieces and dipping them into the stews.

The stews that accompany injera are usually made from beef, chicken, lamb, goat, mutton or vegetables. Most Eritreans, with the exception of the Saho, like their food spicy and hot. Berbere, a spice mixture that consists of a variety of common and unusual herbs and spices, accompanies almost all dishes. Stews include zigni, which is made with beef; dorho tsebhi, which is made with chicken; alicha, which is a vegetable dish made without berbere; and shiro, a purée of various legumes.

In the lowlands, the main dish is akelet (also known locally as ga’at), a porridge-like dish made from wheat flour dough. A ladle is used to make an indentation in the dough, which is then filled with a mixture of berbere and melted butter, and surrounded by milk or yogurt. When dining, a small piece of Ga’at is dipped into the berbere and the butter sauce, and then into the milk or yogurt.

Influenced by its past as an Italian colony, Eritrean cuisine also features unique interpretations of classic Italian dishes.[6] Among these specialties are pasta sauces spiced with berbere.[7]– [Wikipedia 2020-04-14]