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Ethiopian cuisine
is unique by way of ceremony, flavour, colour and presentation. First
decorated metal or clay water jugs are brought to the table and their
contents poured over the guests' outstretched hand into a small bowl below.
This cleansing is sometimes followed by a short prayer of thanksgiving.
The first course, which immediately follows this ceremonial aspect of the
meal, is usually a mild dish such as a curds and whey to cleanse the palate
for the more spicy offerings that follow. Wot, the
national dish , comes in many varieties-meat, fish, poultry or vegetable of
hot pepper and spice stew which are almost always accompanied by a fermented
form of unleavened bread called Injera. Layers of the bread
are geometrically positioned in Mesob, or basket table, and
spoonfuls of the different types of the different types of Wot are
then attractively portioned out on the top of them. Then it's finger time,
tearing off a piece of Injera and wrapping it around a chosen piece of meat
with savoury sauce.
For those not accustomed to such hot food whose
ingredients include red and black pepper, cardamon, garlic and coriander,
there is an alternative: Alicha is equally delicious but a lot
milder and is usually made from chicken or lamb flavoured with green pepper
and onion.
Traditional Ethiopian meals are normally washed
down with tej, a type of wine made from honey, or tella
which is a light, home-brewed beer manufactured from barley. Ethiopian
also produces a range of very palatable yet inexpensive red and white wines.
Ethiopians do not traditionally end their meals
with a dessert although, if it can be found, a honeycomb dripping with honey
is often offered to sooth the heat of the wot. In any event, the end of a
meal is not complete without buna, ( the Ethiopian word for
coffee), the world's favourite beverage which actually originated in
Ethiopia about a thousand years a go.
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