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

Sudanese food is built on durra (sorghum), ful medames (stewed fava beans), and the specific Nile Valley cooking tradition that connects Egypt and Ethiopia without belonging entirely to either. Asida — a thick sorghum or wheat porridge, served with mulah (meat and vegetable stew) or salata aswad (a roasted aubergine salad) — is the staple eating across most of Sudan. Ful medames with olive oil and eggs, the East African and Levantine breakfast, takes on a Sudanese character with the addition of kisra (thin sorghum flatbread fermented slightly, used to scoop). Gurasa bread (thick, soft, oil-rich flatbread), served with lamb and vegetable stew, is the street food of Khartoum. The Sudanese tea tradition — red chai with cinnamon, cloves, and ginger, very sweet — provides an afternoon ritual that the heat makes necessary. The coffee ceremony, similar to the Ethiopian one, is the formal hospitality version. Take your time.