Food holds great cultural significance. For that, our communities have norms surrounding food that dictate what is prepared, for whom, how, and the parts to be eaten by a particular person. 

A meal of chicken in the Luhya community of Western Kenya is held in high esteem. Males get a cockerel slaughtered for them on different occasions, such as initiation. Some parts of the chicken, especially the gizzard, called imondo by the community, are considered sacred and can only be eaten by the head of the family or an alpha male among visitors for whom chicken has been prepared. It was served as a whole, and it was unheard of to cut the gizzard into pieces. 

Chicken wings are known to be served to girls, boys who haven’t undergone the rite of passage, and sometimes women. It is believed that feeding boys who are yet to be initiated chicken feet will make them bleed more when they undergo circumcision. As for children, they shouldn’t be fed chicken as well, as it is thought that they will grow into village gossips who will just earwig and pass gossip around the village. 

At the rift, food norms are continued by the Kalenjin, this time regarding milk and meat. Meat and milk are a staple diet for this community, but it is taboo to consume both at the same time. This is because of the implications of excess proteins on some body organs like the liver. A person who eats meat and drinks milk at the same time is called a pitorintet. Among the Nandi, this norm was reinforced by the saying, makiame tany ketar, which meant that consuming this combination was equal to finishing your cows, and you would be inviting poverty into your household. 

Pouring of libations is a common practice across many Kenyan communities whereby before meals are consumed, food and drinks are poured to the ground to revere deities for their providence and invoke ancestors. This practice symbolises the link between the living and their ancestors in the continuous cycle of life. 

While in modern-day Kenya some communities have replaced the pouring of libations with other forms of reverence like prayer, the norm is still ingrained in the fabric of community. You can still hear school-going children say, “that one is for the ancestors.” when a piece of ugali or soup escapes their plates. 

Did you know of any of these lores? Which other food norms are you familiar with?