Private Market Tour and Tanzanian Cooking Class in Moshi

Highly recommend this experience! We had so much fun at the market and learning how to cook traditional food with William, his mother and her friends. We were made to feel part of the family. And the food was excellent! I’m planning to do the millet tamarind porridge myself. William was warm and friendly and we had great chats about the food, Moshi and general life with him.

I wanted to experience Tanzanian culture and this was the perfect way to start off. Mama Shida's son William picked me up at my Hotel and gave me a private tour of the local market. We picked up local ingredients, talked with vendors, and I tried dried sardines and other fruits and vegetables. . When we arrived at Mama Shida's home, I was immediately welcomed and made part of the family and community . I was amazed as the the amount of work cooking traditional foods over fires/charcoal. I was taught to make coconut milk, and helped with beef curry, banana stew, ugali, and tried banana beer ( I don't like beer, but did enjoy banana beer). We ate a feast. I was sad to see the experience come to an end. I will hold happy memories of this experience for a lifetime. I would highly recommend this tour and would love to return with my daughters in the future.

Had such fun cooking with Williams mother and her friend! The market tour was nice and informative, we have looked, sniffed and tried new foods, all of which were amazing. We cooked with fresh produce and on a traditional wood fire, making the food delicious. The banana stew, beef stew and ugali were so tasty and nice. Looking forward to replicate at home!

This whole experience was amazing. William picked my husband and I up from our lodge and took us through the local market to pick up some ingredients before travelling to his Mum's house where we started cooking with his Mum, Marissa and his family. We learnt how to make banana stew and local beef curry, including making coconut milk from scratch. We felt incredibly welcomed into their family and learnt a lot about their family, local cooking style and Tanzania. This was a memorable experience and I would recommend to anyone travelling to Moshi.

This experience was a perfect way to wrap up our Tanzania trip! William (a local Tanzanian and Marissa’s husband) picked us up and took us through the market where he showed us local ingredients and let us try fruits and other items. He then took us to his mother’s house where we helped her prepare a delicious traditional Tanzanian meal!! Did I mention it was delicious?? We also for to try her home brewed banana beer as we cooked! I would absolutely do this again!! Thank you for a wonderful time!!

William and his son picked us up from our hotel and brought us to the market to try many foods like peas, sardines, tamarind, fruits and more. It was a great way to see how the people of Moshi live. Then he brought us to his mothers house where we met Marissa and her girls. We had appetizers and then the kids took off to play. We got to learn the process of coconut milk, ugali, beef stew and more. Taught how to use ugali when you eat, dessert, and kids placed jelly bean boozle that we brought from USA. Highly recommended activity to do when in Moshi.

Such a fun experience! I got to experience what it may be like to live in Tanzania without actually live there. My day started being picked up by William. We stopped by a local market to taste different types of vegetables and fruit. I was skeptical at first about cleanliness of the food and I purposely scheduled this event on my last day in Tanzania. Well, it’s been about 2 days now since then and I am not having any issues. William knows so many people at a market, it was fun watching him interact with the sellers. Upon arrival at his mother Shida’s house, she and a few other ladies welcomed me with open arms. They didn’t speak English but we communicated with help of William and some gestures. I did what I can to help them cook at their outside cooking area. I thought climbing Kilimanjaro was harder but who knew cooking traditional method takes a lot of muscle strength! It took us over 3 hours to cook but beef stew had amazing flavor. Shida has a great smiles and soon enough, I was addressing her as mama Shida. Her warm smile made me feel I was her daughter, teaching me how to cook. I understand why Marissa fell in love with this family and culture here. I enjoyed my short visit to their family and glad I got to experience this. I highly recommend signing up with them to get a true local experience.