Food: Corn (mahindi)

Corn lady preps a piece for me by dipping half a lime in spices and then squeezing/wiping the mix onto the corn.

One of the easiest and most widely available snacks this time of year is corn (mahindi). Only needing a simple setup, vendors can easily set up shop, roast a couple of ears of corn, and make a nice profit charging 300-800 TZS ($0.17-0.50).

The corn here is a variety of maize that is much less sweet than the corn most widely available in America. However, it is grown nearly everywhere, from large scale agriculture fields to in peoples backyards, and is typically covered in a mix of spices, salt and lime giving it a bit of flavor. It is served in a piece of the husk to keep your hands clean and protected from hot pieces.

Now that we're nearing the end of the rainy season corn is widely available. People also use corn to make a variety of local foods including the most popular starch ugali and the hearty makande. Luckily, if you can't be bothered to prepare and process the corn in such an intricate way, you can always just roast it!