An Ethiopian Food Adventure

Utah does not have what I would call a plethora of Ethiopian restaurants. So when we found out that Las Vegas has a large population of Ethiopians we looked to see if perhaps there was a Ethiopian restaurant. We were thrilled to find out that indeed there was. So we decided since our children will not be traveling with us to Africa that it would be fun to introduce them to a little Ethiopian Culture.

Ethiopians live on a staple called injera. It comes from a grain called "Teff". It is one of the worlds most nutritious grains. One pound of Teff seed can produce one ton of grain in twelve weeks. This is hundreds of times smaller than that required of wheat. The resilience and quick growth of Teff have protected the Ethiopians from hunger for thousands of years. It is extremely hearty and leaves you feeling extremely full after eating it. When you eat in Ethiopia you do so with your fingers using the injera as your "scoop". The food is eaten family style with everyone sitting around the big platter and then scooping the food with the injera and into your mouth.

We took a few pictures for all of you to see how pretty the presentation is.

The injera is on the bottom and then it is surrounded with dora wat (spicy chicken), salad, chickpeas, lentils, cheese and yes that is a boiled egg in the middle.

I was pleasantly surprised at how much the children enjoyed the food. We had begged them to be polite and not say anything funny to any of the people in the restaurant if they did not like the food. We had promised we would drive through McDonald's if they hated it. We were thrilled that no such trip was needed. I found the injera to be quite spongy and I felt like I had eaten an expanding sponge after just a little bit of the meal. It was easy to see why this grain can sustain the Ethiopian people. I will say I enjoyed it and found it very different than anything I had ever eaten however, I can say I am glad that there is a pizza parlor close to the care center as I fear 10 days of this may be too much for me.

Below are a few more pictures of the children and Shawn at the restaurant. If you look you will see the rolled injera in the basket next to the main platter. This is what you would break off and scoop the food with.