What are the primary differences between Ethiopian and Eritrean food?
As far as I can tell based on restaurants in the US, the cuisines of Ethiopia and Eritrea are quite similar. Are there any characteristic differences between the two, or dishes that belong strongly to one and not the other?
Best Answer
I asked my friend who's written a cookbook adapting traditional ethiopian cuisine for vegetarians, here's what he told me.
Ethiopian and Eritrean food are basically identical. They were the same country until the early 90s, so that's not too surprising, I guess. In both countries, wats are common and are eaten with teff-based injera. Berbere is a primary seasoning in both countries. He said the only differences are due to climate: Eritrea is at a lower elevation, so the food there uses more warm-weather vegetables like tomatoes, eggplants, etc. while Ethiopian cuisine might have more carrots, for example.
However, he did point out that "Eritrean" restaurants he'd been to in the US (specifically, in the Bay Area) were actually closer to what he would consider Ethiopian food anyway, which may explain your experience: you may be eating Ethiopian food at an Eritrean restaurant. Of course, since the cuisines are so similar, this is like going to a "Western New-Mexico" restaurant in China and being served (gasp) "Eastern New-Mexico" food--not too surprising, in any case.
Pictures about "What are the primary differences between Ethiopian and Eritrean food?"
Quick Answer about "What are the primary differences between Ethiopian and Eritrean food?"
Eritrean dishes are also frequently lighter in texture than Ethiopian meals as they tend to employ less seasoned butter and spices and more tomatoes, as in tsebhi dorho.What is the difference between Ethiopian and Eritrean food?
Ethiopian and Eritrean food are basically identical. They were the same country until the early 90s, so that's not too surprising, I guess. In both countries, wats are common and are eaten with teff-based injera. Berbere is a primary seasoning in both countries.What is the difference between Ethiopian and Eritrean?
You can know more about their culture through them.- Zigni \u2013 Eritrean Beef Stew.
- Shiro \u2013 Ground Chickpeas Stew.
- Tsebhi Derho \u2013 Spicy Chicken Stew.
- Hamli/Gomen \u2013 Sauteed Collard Greens.
- Birsen \u2013 Lentil Curry.
- Fata \u2013 Eritrean Panzanella.
- Makleel \u2013 Eritrean Doughnuts With Honey.
- Mies/Tej \u2013 Eritrean Honey Wine.
What kind of food do they eat in Eritrea?
The country's main staple is injera, an ubiquitous pancake that is eaten all over Ethiopia. It is spread out on a large flat basket and simply topped with mounds of spicy meat stews, and colorful vegetable curries. The injera is akin to bread in Europe or rice in Asia, and found at every meal.More answers regarding what are the primary differences between Ethiopian and Eritrean food?
Answer 2
Lots of differences.... the spice and the way of cooking... and Ethiopians almost have no tomatoes... actually they don't use tomatos - it is mostly onion based. While Eritrean food has tomatoes and onions and we don't use that much butter and that spicey butter. Actually, Eritreans mostly use the butter when making meat dishes.. otherwise we just use oil.
What we have in common is the inerjera based food and sister sauces that are made differently .... specially the lentil sauce, the chicken sauce, the classic meat sauce, and allicha (cabbige sauce)... Other sauces the Ethios have that we don't have, and we have that they don't have. F.eg we never put meat in vegetables... like never.. they do. WE have hilbet (the best Eritrean food in my opinion), they don't have that.
Though similar on the outside, it is actually quite different experience eating Ethiopian vs Eritrean. The Ethios might miss their food among Eritreans, and the Eritreans miss our food among Ethios. They taste very very different...
We were the same country only in the 30 years by American force... I'll tell you one thing, it never affected the food.
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Ave Calvar Martinez, Ave Calvar Martinez, Ave Calvar Martinez, Ann H