Ethiopian Cuisine

I was a little sad when I didn’t get a chance to take pictures of the food while I was at an Ethiopian restaurant a week ago in upstate New York – well, my phone was out of battery. Anyway, I was first introduced to Ethiopian cuisine through a video I came across on Youtube (and you can watch the video below). I promise this post won’t be about currently watching, but please watch it if you can.

In the video (and I feel bad for the guy who gets bleeped out so many times in that video), I was intrigued by the unusual way of dining. Ethiopian food is typically served in a huge platter which includes a combination of meats and vegetables, accompanied by a spongy bread called injera (see the photo below for the typical dish served in an Ethiopian meal and the description of each one). And in an Ethiopian meal, you don’t use silverware – and to eat, you tear a piece of injera and use it to pick up the food from the platter (just like in the video), making the process fun and interactive!

This picture actually saves me a lot of time (and space) in having to describe each of the dish.

Beyond the food, I think I was (and still am) attracted to the communal aspect of the cuisine. Unlike the typical dining experiences where one goes to a restaurant, orders his/her own food, and then stick to it until s/he has finished it, Ethiopian food usually comes in a big serving size, which not only includes many meat and vegetarian options (and you can choose up to eight as shown in the picture above) but is recommended that you share them with your peers. Although the platter in the video looks like a serving size for one, I can assure you that it, along with the injera, can feed up to two people.

When I was at the Ethiopian restaurant with the group, we ordered four platters, where each one is shared by six people. We didn’t feed each other like the man did in the video, but we had an amazing time exploring each different dish and finding ourselves surprised by each of its unique flavor – and because it was the first time for most of us, the bonding experience was even more fun (and somebody in the group even made the same mistake the girl made in the video)! Our stay at the restaurant wasn’t long, but I wish it lasted a little longer, even though it was a hassle to get up to use the bathroom while being in the middle of a long table that seated three-and-twenty people. Still, the entire experience was memorable.

– Jason