Eritrea

Eritrean cuisine in the highlands (around Asmara) consists largely of spicy dishes very similar to Ethiopian food. The staple is a flat, spongy crepe or bread called injera made from a batter of fermented grains. Spicy stews with meat and vegetables are served on top of it and eaten with the hands. This cuisine is generally found in many restaurants in the country. Middle Eastern dishes such as shahan-ful (bean stew) served with pitas are also readily available everywhere but more commonly eaten for breakfast or brunch in modest establishments. Lowland cuisine is not readily available in many restaurants, but in the oldtown (outermost island) of Massawa, adjacent to the freeport area, there are some simple restaurants that serve cuisine typical to the Red Sea area such as grilled spicy fish and "khobzen" (pita's drenched in goats butter and honey). Owing to its colonial history, Italian food is abundant albeit not too varied all across Eritrea. You will always find a restaurant that serves quite good pasta, lasagna, steak, grilled fish etc. In Asmara there are also several Chinese restaurants, a Sudanese restaurant and an Indian restaurant (Rooftop).

The most common beverage in Eritrea is by far Beer. There is only one (state-owned) brand in the country so there is not much choice, but it is quite good at that. Beer is consumed cold in Eritrea! This is closely followed by various soft drinks, the most common flavors are as elsewhere in the world: orange flavor, lemon/lime flavor and cola flavor, produced by one of the most recognizable brands in the world. The same company that holds the beer monopoly also holds the monopoly on producing the local form of sambouca colloquially called "Araqi" as well as Vermouth and other spirits. International brands of the same spirits as well as others and are also readily available at most bars for a cheap price. Sophisticated drinks like "Cosmo" or "White Russian" are not understood in Eritrea outside of perhaps the Intercontinental Hotel who charge a steep price, quite predictably. On a side note, there is an Irish bar in the hotel, which might be of interest to some. Traditionally Eritreans also drink the local form of mead called "suwa" and consists of old bread fermented in water with honey, as well as a sweet honeywine called "mies". Tapwater should not be drunk by foreigners. There is plenty of relatively cheap bottled mineral water, both carbonated and non-carbonated in Eritrea. Cafes in some towns offer fresh fruit juices. These should be avoided. There is no point in suffering from agonizing food-poisoning and wasting throughout your probabaly short stay in this country. Unpeeled fruits can be eaten or squeezed fresh by you. But avoid "ready-squeezed" juices and that goes for ice-creams and fruit salads and regular salads as well. Avoid them like the plague. Stick to bottled drinks and cooked foods.

The currency is the Eritrean nakfa. It is pegged to the US dollar. There are 15 nakfas to the USD. Coins are issued in denominations of 1 cent, 5 cents, 10 cents, 25 cents, 50 cents and 100 cents (1 nakfa. Banknotes are issued in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 nakfas. The best souvenirs to bring from Eritrea are traditional handicrafts made from leather, olivewood, clay and straw. These can be found in most souvenir shops in Asmara along with traditional home-spun cotton garments. Posters and postcards are also readily available at most press-kiosks even at the airport. Leopard- and zebra skin as well as ivory items can be found in the souvenir markets but you will be stopped from leaving Eritrea with these as well as stopped and fined at your home destination because international trade in such materials is banned. Eritrea however has several souvenirs made from goatskin. Gold, Pearl and Silver Jewellery is also available in the markets in Asmara along with frankincense and myrrh. Beware that when you buy any textiles such as home-spun cotton garments or mats or any such thing, including skin items (with fur remaining) keep them in a closed plastic bag away from any of your other items until you can have them properly cleaned, dried, preferably chemically treated and/or dry-cleaned before packing them with any of your other items to be brought home with you, or you could be bringing along some unwelcome souvenirs such as lice, bedbugs or other parasites.

Costs

Eritrea is generally a very cheap place to shop, eat, travel and spend time (Hotel prices apart from the pricy 5-star Intercontinental in Asmara are also very cheap). The only things that could be expensive in the country are understandibly imports (fuel and other foreign commodities), services that depend on imports (up-scale restaurants, hotels, private transport or flights) and various government fees (visas, airport taxes, travel permits etc.). If you stay away from imports (or bring them such as toiletries and cosmetics), eat locally and stay at a regular budget hotels, especially the government-owned, and if you travel on public land-transportation, you need less than $50 a day for food, lodging and transport in total.