Like many African countries, Rwanda has experienced a nutrition transition from colonial times to today. Rwanda’s land and food system was consecutively controlled by Germans and Belgians from the 1980s to 1962. The colonial period in various parts of the world had a profound impact on food, cuisine, and culinary traditions. European colonies introduced new crops, and cooking techniques and brought their own food culture.
Before the colonization, Rwanda had a diversity of crops. Rwandans, Bantu-speakers ate dishes of grain, meat, milk, vegetables, and fermented milk products. They also had honey, eggs, some fruits, and beer brewed from sorghum and other grains in their diet.
The Y and Z Rwandan generation qualify Rwandan’s traditional meals as bread and donuts with porridge or tea for breakfast, boiled beans, bananas, sweet potatoes or cassava, and rice for lunch and dinner. Isombe, ‘cassava leaves with vegetables such as eggplant, spinach, and palm oil’ and Umutsima, ‘a dish of cassava or corn) remain one of their favorite dishes’.
European colonizers introduced new food ingredients which became staples of local diets. With the digitalization and technology, many dishes that were not available a few years ago are now at the forefront of the Rwandan culinary world. Rwanda is now moving toward a Western-style diet. In every corner of the Rwandan capital, you find bakeries that offer products made from wheat flour. Wheat has been first introduced in Rwanda in the 1920s and 1930s. The most popular are bread, donuts, cakes and chapatis.
Rwanda’s economic growth and urbanization favored the development of modern supermarkets that offer a variety of local and international products including but not limited to beverage, food, and food ingredients.
In the last decade, with the evolvement of Rwandan tourism, Kigali has seen the introduction of restaurants that offer dishes from other cultures. The capital of Rwanda has now a growing dining scene with a variety of Western restaurants that offer a range of cuisines from around the world. Whether you’re in the mood for Italian, French, American, Indian, Korean, Chinese, Nigerian, or other Western dishes, you can find options to satisfy your cravings.
Besides fancy restaurants, Rwanda adopted the culture of Fast food, establishments that offer a range of quick meals. They provide convenient dining choices for locals and visitors in Rwanda. No matter if you are looking for quick bites, burgers, fried chicken, or pizza, you may satiate your hunger.
Rwandan cuisine is a dynamic and evolving landscape. It offers opportunities to taste traditional Rwandan meals and flavors but also allows a taste of new and innovative dishes influenced by both traditional and contemporary trends.
