Africa Food Experiences from Botswana

For myself, one of the fun parts of traveling is discovering new and delicious foods from where you visit. My recent trip to Botswana presented me with a few unique foods and I wanted to share with you my Africa food experiences.

One of the first stops was at a pizza and pasta place in a mall near the Johannesburg airport. Wood-fired pizza seems to be a common food on offer. The part I loved most about the pizza in Johannesburg and Botswana was the side toppings. I ate wood-fired pizza twice during my trip and each time a condiment plate was brought out which contained fresh garlic, freshly sliced jalapenos, and parmesan cheese. Some of the pizzas had unique toppings, but many were what I would expect from traditional pizzas in the states or Canada.

We stayed in a little apartment in Gaborone for part of our trip and visited the local grocery store for food. One of the jewels of Botswana is the beef fillet. You can buy beef tenderloin there (it’s the same cut that contains filet mignon) for very affordable prices. We bought a package of beef fillet for all three of us and I recall it cost about $10 USD.

We flew a local airline, Air Botswana, from Gaborone to Kasane, and received these little lunchbox meals during our one hour flight. The return flight was delayed over two hours (a common occurrence it appears), but hey, they feed you at least. :)

One of my favorite discoveries was the availability of ciders at the restaurants. I really love hard apple ciders, and in Botswana and South Africa you can order Hunter’s Dry Cider or Savana Dry at almost any restaurant.

One of my favorite meals was at a place called Mokolodi Nature Reserve. The atmosphere was gorgeous and the food delicious. I ordered the Kingklip Provencal which I had no clue what to expect but sounded like a great mesh of flavors. I wasn’t disappointed — it was fabulous. I’ve wanted to recreate the dish, but Kingklip is not available readily in Seattle, so I think I’ll have to substitute another mild white fish.

One final great Africa food discovery was Pinotage wine. I fell in love with it and regret only bringing one bottle home with me! It was developed in South Africa and not a grape I’ve seen in US stores. If you normally love Shiraz, then give a glass of Pinotage a try if you’re in Africa.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this Africa food journey. Be sure to look at my other Africa travel posts: River Safari Cruise, Game Drive Safari, and The Garden Lodge in Chobe.