Vegetarian Street Food in Zanzibar

I think one of the best ways to explore and experience a town is to sample the food that the people living there eat/ drink. And its best way to do this is to do it with the people living in the town!

This is exactly how I sampled some food in Zanzibar. I was on a backpacker's budget and didn't want to spend one extra shillings on anything and this was my incentive to mix with the locals and eat their food with them.

Coffee near the mosque

After my almost disastrous start at the passport control on the port, all I wanted to was to have coffee in a nice cool place. I found this really fancy coffee shop and almost went there to relax in air-conditioning and enjoy my culpa of coffee. This is when I saw a small restaurant across the streets where no tourist went. I went and asked them for coffee and somehow could communicate that I wanted to drink coffee where they had their coffee. An elderly man decided to escort me to a lane next to an old mosque where group of men were sitting and enjoying their cups of black coffee, and having some serious conversations. I decided to join them! After the initial hesitation, their curiosity took over and they decided to not just talk to me but also pose for pictures. The machine used for making coffee was made in Delhi, India and they proudly showed me that :)

My coffee 

Bananas from Fruit Market

The other great food to try out are the bananas anywhere in Tanzania, and Zanzibar was no different. They are really cheap and of course, fill your stomach. There are multiple varieties and you must try them all from the Fruits Market in the Stone Town.

Bananas are very popular and common throughout this part of Africa

Indian Homemade Bhajias

The one thing that surprised me the most were the Indian Bhajias in one of the lanes. Bhajias are another name for pakodas which are usually made with potatoes, onion, spinach etc. The ones seen here are made with gram flour and were really tasty. Once the woman realised that I was an India, she refused to take any money from me :)

Fried Bhajias

Al Mauly Ice Cream

And finally, no food is complete without something sweet. I found this really awesome (and highly affordable) ice cream shop in one of the lanes as I was photographing the doors there. I was super hungry and decided to eat some ice-cream there. I also met this very bright English teacher was also there to eat some. He also became my translator to talk to the woman running the shop. It was great conversations over this amazing cup of ice cream :)

Vanilla ice cream with fruits

This is must-try shop!