Nairobi, Sept. 17 -- I didn't know what to expect when I walked into Jiko Restaurant at the Tribe Hotel. The invitation had promised an evening celebrating Kenyan food heritage, with age-old ingredients and cooking traditions taking centre stage.

That didn't prepare me to find, let alone enjoy, a six-course meal built around foods our grandparents would recognise - traditional staples such as njahi (black beans), nthoroko (cowpeas), kunde (cowpea leaves), thafai (stinging nettle), musherekha (natural food tenderiser from the Luhya community), and mursik (Kalenjin fermented milk). Not even the spicy malenge (pumpkin) dessert.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Business Daily....