Stew called 'wat' is an important traditional Ethiopian food and is made with chicken, beef, fish, or just vegetables, again, it is normally spiced up with paprika. Food is often eaten with the fingers and injera, (bread) forms the backbone of the meal, with strips of injera being torn off and wrapped out portions of the dishes made, then eaten. (However for the uninitiated forks are allowed!) Its easier to imagine this as the injera being like a tablecloth with portions of food being served on it, then you eat the tablecloth! This video shows traditional Ethiopian food. Quite an experience!

Unfortunately for many in Ethiopia, food is in shortage with an estimated five million Ethiopians in chronic food shortage and most children in Ethiopia are malnourished (only 11% have access to safe drinking water.). Part of the reason for this is the frequent floods and droughts that afflict the area disrupting the food supply.

Many will remember the Live Aid concert of 1985 which drew attention to the famine that swept across Ethiopia and provided food relief, although hundreds of thousands still died of starvation.