• A cook in an apron holds out a wooden spoon over a steel pot in the Chole Mjini kitchen, with jars on the counter
    Swahili Cooking Lesson

Swahili Cooking Lesson

A cook in an apron holds out a wooden spoon over a steel pot in the Chole Mjini kitchen, with jars on the counter

Only at Chole Mjini. Join Hamisa or Aisha, two of the cooks from Chole, and learn to cook your favourite Swahili dish, or a full meal, over a traditional wood fire.

The flavours of the Swahili coast

Swahili cooking mixes flavours from the whole of East Africa’s trading past, drawing on Arabic, Indian and Portuguese traditions. Its key ingredients are coconut milk, spices such as cardamom and cloves, fresh seafood and tropical fruit.

Cook over a wood fire, with local tools

Raya or Mwanjuma teach you to cook the way it’s done on Chole, over a traditional wood fire and with the island’s own tools. Popular lessons include making chapati, the soft flatbread eaten all along the coast, and preparing fresh coconut milk, tui la nazi in Swahili, grated and pressed by hand from the coconut. Then sit down and eat what you’ve made. Our managers plan the next day’s activities with you each evening.

See prices for this and all our activities (PDF)

A cook in a headscarf sits on the kitchen floor by a window, cleaning rice on a woven tray beside a green bucket

Details

Start Location: Chole Mjini

Highlights

  • Only at Chole Mjini
  • Taught by Raya or Mwanjuma, from Chole
  • Your favourite Swahili dish, or a full meal
  • Cooked over a traditional wood fire with local tools
  • Make chapati and fresh coconut milk (tui la nazi)