Being vegan in Tanzania

Being vegan - a morally imperative luxury

I don't know a lot of detail, but I know animal husbandry works quite differently here. Many of my reasons for being vegan still apply though, I'm sure. A few times I've come across people trying to argue against being vegan by saying that it's a first world luxury. It's true, it is a luxury to be able to factor in anything beyond survival in your dietary choices, let alone ethics or concern for the environment. That however doesn't invalidate the concerns for ethics and enviroment, and those who can't afford the luxery of chosing to be vegan are not helped by others rejecting it.

Accidental veganism

In my experiences so far, being vegan in Tanzania is easy, with the caveat that you'd need to find a way to stock up on B12 supplements. In Europe, eating out you can usually find one or two options that with some modification can be made vegan. Here, there's usually several excellent 'accidentally' vegan options. I've not done any cooking myself here, but I've seen that there's a great variety of nuts, grains, pulses and fresh fruit and veg to buy, so I don't doubt you can cover all your nutritional requirements quite easily on a vegan diet here.

The obligatory "chili sauce."
Photo taken while waiting for half-vegan food at Saddle Hut, climbing Mt Meru. 

Social situations

The only real difficulty is dealing with social situations (same as in europe...), and clearing up whether or not there's egg or dairy in menues. This is made more difficult becase my swahili is non-existant and the Tanzanians English isn't always fluent. Obviously most people are unfammilliar with veganism and struggle to get their head around it. Like at home, I think think the most common attitude is that it's a strange and irrational obsession. In restaurants it's just a matter of having the patience in making clear what you do and don't eat though. Soon we will visit friends of sister, and making demands on the food I'm offered may be a more sensitive issue. We'll see.

When I came here, I wasn't quite sure what to expect, so I was prepared for that I might have to make some compromises, and I have indeed done a few, starting with the egg white in the yellow fever vaccine. Qatar Airways ("It couldn't be simpler") weren't clued up and for some reason wouldn't let me have just the vegan main without the tray full of non-vegan side dishes and deserts. I accepted it but only ate the main. (Egypt Air which I'm flying back with, however, had a long meal list to chose from with an option for every possible dietary peculirity or allergy imaginable.)

We told our Mt Meru tour company SkyWays Expeditions that I was vegan, so they chose Noel, a vegetarian, as our chef and guide on the mountain. He said, "I think, maybe, the only vegetarian in Arusha". I told him I didn't eat meat, milk or egg, but we did end up with food that almost certainly had both in. Perhaps he was counting on that I wouldn't make a fuss, or he thought I wouldn't know pancakes are made with egg, or he thought i wouldn't mind because pancakes don't *taste* like egg. I don't know. But I didn't want to starve or risk turning the mood sour so I chose a don't-ask-don't-tell policy for the questionable foods during the hike.

 Update: As a guest, it was not very difficult in the end. The dinner with Godi was on short notice, so we didn't get a chance to inform them ahead of time. We were offered fish, but we explained that we were vegetarians and I think they respected that. There was plenty of veg and rice to be had as well. We told Mkala ahead of time, and she had no trouble making us a delicious veggie meal. With the various tours we went on, it was sometimes difficult to make it clear what we didn't eat. We were asked things like: "someone said you don't eat eggs... what about fried eggs" and "So... do you eat herbs?"

Also, Egypt air was not as accomodating as they claimed. The 'vegan' meal was just like the Qatar Air veggie meal; a vegan main with lots of non-vegan sides that they insisted I keep on the tray for some reason.