Ethiopia – The Hotels and Food
In a brief description I can only say that the hotels in Ethiopia SUCK. The worst places I have ever seen overall and one in particular in Konso was the worst place I have ever slept (see another story for this one’s details and the one with rats). Most of the hotels I stayed in are owned the government and they take government services and properties to a new low in my mind. None of the employees are competent and it shows in every respect. From the poor food and poor services to the rooms that are filthy and falling apart. Ethiopians know nothing about maintaining anything. The only two things that I saw well-maintained in the country were the vehicles I drove in (thankfully). Every government room I was in was falling apart. Many of them had plumbing problems including drains that did not drain. They often turn off the water during the day, but they provide each bathroom with a bucket of water to make this OK! All of the hotels look like they are straight out of the 1970s. The Ghion in Addis Ababa is the best of the lot yet I was amazed to hear that it was refurbished recently given that it, too, looks like it was from the 1970s and it has maintenance issues.
Most of the private hotels were even worse the government properties. One of them is a chain of twelve hotels around the country named “Bekele Mola” which are all crap and then name is that of the owner. I can only imagine what a fine specimen of a human is Mr Mola. I would say that the hotels of Ethiopia are the worst part of the tourism in this country and I would hesitate to recommend the country for travel just based on what there is for accommodations. Camping out is much more enjoyable. Since I am now sitting in the cream of the government crop of hotels, the Ghion in Addis, I have to stop writing this entry since it is depressing me!!!
So when I tell you how bad the food is in Ethiopia you can go ahead and laugh and say “no shit, Sherlock”. It is worse than you can even imagine. There are two types of food here. The first is the horrible stuff they serve in the hotels called “Western”. The Ethiopian food which I thought they were famous for is quite strange although sometimes it is good. I didn’t come to Ethiopia for food, but there is no other country that I have visited that present such a good reason for losing weight.
Breakfast involves eggs and cold toast. The eggs are often cold, too. Juice is rare even in the areas growing a lot of fruit. The coffee is usually OK although it is often so strong that the enamel on your teeth is under assault. Ethiopians add a lot of sugar, but I stuck with taking it straight up. I will say that when they make the coffee right and use their best beans it can be quite good. Sometimes the hotels would offer some fruit, but it was always bad which has been especially difficult since I have been enjoying great fruit for the past few months. The best breakfast food I found was porridge especially when they had some of the great local honey available. For twenty-five breakfasts, there was not one that was better than mediocre and there were a few that I walked away from… after chugging the coffee, of course.
The only good lunches I had were the picnics provided by the tour operator. They made salads with canned vegetables (taste great after the rest of the bad meals) and tuna fish. The hotels served the worst “European” food I can imagine. The best of the lot was the food that had no taste. The meals with taste were normally bad taste. I met some folks from France and pitied them for having to go from their land of wonderful food to the Ethiopian versions.
Dinners were no better than the hotel breakfasts and lunches. One night I was served some chicken that was horrible tasting. I wondered if it was even chicken. It was so bad on the first bite that I had to try a second. Something was very wrong with that chicken and I left disgusted not eating anything else. I woke up in the middle of the night not feeling well and I immediately knew it was those two bites of chicken. It may have killed me if I had eaten all of it.
I really have nothing else to say about the Ethiopian “western/european” food. Fortunately, the Ethiopian food was a lot better although it is not very sophisticated. The normal Ethiopian food consumed for breakfast, lunch and dinner is injera. Injera is a spongy bread-like substance made from their endemic grain tef after it has been fermented. It is kind of like a rubbery tortilla. That doesn’t sound very good, but it is their staple. They add sauces, meats and legumes on top of the injera. Most of the sauces are quite spicy and I tried some of the hottest chilies ever. They often eat the meats raw, but I did not go there. What I did eat for each of the three meals was pretty good and definitely filling, but I won’t try to convince anyone that Ethiopia is the home of great culinary experiences.
Tags: Africa, ethiopia, Travel
vagabondrick
Leave a Reply