Chicken and Eggs

Eating chicken is somewhat different here than in the States.  And, I'm not even referring to the kill-it, pluck-it, cook-it differences.   (Our town has a shop where I can sometimes buy them ready to cook.)  Menus will often specify whether the chicken is "kienyegi" (local) or "kisasa" (modern).  A kienyegi bird can best be described as free-range.  It was recently scrabbling around in someone's yard.  It is flavorful and nutritious, but if it is not cooked correctly it is extremely tough and rubbery.  Kisasa birds are akin to broilers--tender young birds which are bred for meat and not given as much freedom. 

Even though kisasa chickens are raised on farms in some quantity, the huge factory-like operations that we have in the States do not exist.  Possibly as a result, Tanzanian chicken tastes more chicken-y than any I have purchased at Publix, Safeway, or even Whole Foods. 

They are also skinnier.  Here, I use the meat from an entire chicken--instead of just the leg quarters--for my chicken and yellow rice recipe.  But I also use the bones and odds and ends to make a chicken vegetable soup at the same time, so we do get a couple of hearty meals out of the purchase.  That's good, because a chicken costs 6500 Tsh at our local shop.  Our net living allowance works out to about 9000 Tsh each per day.       

Kienyegi eggs are wonderful.  Their yolks are dark yellow, and they are tasty.  Kisasa egg yolks, on the other hand, are so pale as to be almost white.  Makes me wonder what is added to chicken feed at factory farms in the U.S., to make yolks yellow.