It can be frustrating to visit a beautiful and clean city and you can’t find your favorite food. Food is a universal necessity and its importance goes beyond need and touches deeper places like the soul and spirit. Cuisines vary from culture to culture, differing between nations and within them hence many people prefer to have food from their culture at any place they visit. Different eateries in hotels and restaurants in Kigali are seen as the home for various cuisines that visitors socialize with which attracts a variety of people to enjoy their stay in the city. According to Hasibu Semajyambere, a chef at Kigali Max Hotel, having diversity in cuisines provides the hotel with an opportunity to host diverse clients. “Because we have many cuisines, we can receive any client. If it as a group coming from a certain country, let’s say Senegal, they come and eat the same food they eat in their country and that makes them happy,” he said. A chef works on his menu in a restaurent at Nyarutarama. Semajyambere can make Senegalese, Malian, Congolese, Indian, Chinese, French and Italian delicacies although the main cuisine the hotel he works for offers is French. As part of his speciality, he said that he can simply learn the taste of a client in case they describe to him what they would like to eat or when they share a picture of food, adding that he can also help people think and come up with what they want to eat – all because he has been able to experience various cuisines. Edith Ebanga is a Cameroonian chef who owns Oasis Restaurant located in Kinyinya, Gasabo district where they cook a variety of African food like Cameroonian, Senegalese, Ivorian, Moroccan as well as common dishes like brochettes, omelet, stew meats, chicken, fish, grilled meat. She said that she makes the dishes, especially the Cameroonian, by using spices such as Djansan, Mbongo (black and brown), white pepper, black paper, pebe, among others that can be used to make different sauces and other types of foods. She revealed that in Cameroonian cuisine, every spice has a specific use for a certain dish and the cooking techniques differ according to that. “In Cameroon, it depends on where you are to know how you’ll cook your food or how you’ll eat your food,” she said. Ebanga has travelled to different places in Africa, Europe and Asia which compelled her to learn about different cuisines. She said that being able to come up with different kinds of food in Kigali means bringing to people what they need, adding that it comes with innovation – giving people what they don’t always have or see after she figured out that most of the food in Rwanda had the same taste. Esther Byukusenge, another chef who works for one of the hotels in Kigali, said that at her workplace they combine different types of cuisines to have an international cuisine. “We have Italian cuisine which has its own kitchen and restaurant and we have Indian and Asian cuisine as well as African cuisine. When we combine them, it becomes an international cuisine and because we receive people from all over the world, that helps us to satisfy their needs,” she said. She noted that knowing many cuisines is an important skill for a chef because it keeps them on trend and exposes them to many jobs. She added, “You also get to know different flavours from all over the world and you can sometimes make a fusion of them because you understand them. If you are making many types of cuisines, you can own any person you need and win every type of client.” Aubin Bahizi Mutesa, a chef and manager of Sovana, a company that prepares and distributes food in Kigali said that their specialty is making chicken that can be accompanied by French fries, ugali or matoke, according to a client’s need. He said that they adapt to any kind of cuisine in case a foreigner wants their service. “It makes you find more information on how those people cook in their home countries and what accompanies it. If you get many clients from different cultures, it pushes you to make them a special dish so that they can enjoy your hospitality and build good connections with you. You have to take many sides in order to maintain stability in the market,” he said. Jean Luc Kayihura, another chef based in Kigali, mostly works on Italian cuisine. He described that a cuisine defines a culture of a particular country or region, adding that cuisines differ as cultures do. “They are also a modern cuisine although it is built on a traditional one,” he continued. “A client follows that culture and enjoys it through food. So, sometimes people come and do not get some kind of food they want because we do not have the ingredients to make them. It requires a client to check where his favourable food can be found and it’s easy to find those places in Kigali,” he said. Kayihura also noted that, for him, the importance of having many cuisines is that it gives jobs to chefs and provides them with a chance to improve their skills and share them which boosts their competence. He said that for clients, it gives them many choices, adding that when someone comes to Kigali, he is sure that he’ll find his favourite food which makes them feel welcomed and enjoy their stay in Rwanda. Athanase Rudasingwa, a client who has come to Oasis restaurant for lunch said that they have special food like the ones from Cameroon and Senegal that are uncommon in Rwanda. He noted that he typically loved brochettes that contain Cameroonian spices and have a great and special taste. He added, “Experiencing different kinds of food in Kigali makes one know different food flavours and can choose and cherish their favourites.”
