What to Eat in Kenya in 2026: The Best Food and Drink

Kenyan food is nyama choma (charcoal-grilled goat or beef, eaten with ugali and kachumbari salad) at one end and a diverse urban restaurant scene reflecting Nairobi's cosmopolitan population at the other. Ugali — white maize porridge cooked to a firm consistency and eaten by hand, scooped into the relish — is the staple that appears at every Kenyan table regardless of the accompanying dish. Sukuma wiki (kale or collard greens sautéed with onion and tomato, the name meaning 'push the week' — the affordable greens that stretch the budget to Friday) and githeri (a boiled mix of maize and beans) represent the everyday vegetable cooking. The Kenyan Indian community's influence runs through the Nairobi restaurant scene: butter chicken, biryani, and samosas at the city's Asian-owned restaurants are as embedded in Nairobi food culture as nyama choma. Kenyan tea (hot, very milky, very sweet, the legacy of British colonial plantation cultivation) and Tusker lager (brewed since 1922, named for the elephant that killed the brewery founder) are the national beverages. Take your time.