Gastronomy

Because of the close proximity to Lake Victoria and the rivers that drain into the lake such as Rivers Yala, Nyando and Nzoia, fish (‘rech’ in Dholuo) was and still remains the most popular dish among the Luos and in Kisumu City. The most popular signature species being the Tilapia (‘ngege’ in Dholuo). Traditionally, the Luo men would go fishing in the lake while the women would remain in the homestead (‘dala’ in Dholuo) to tend to the farms and children.

The fish would be prepared in any of the three ways, namely; boiled fish, smoked fish or roasted fish. This would then be served with ‘Kuon’ (ugali in Swahili-a type of stiff porridge-made from corn flour, or sorghum flour or cassava flour or millet flour or a mixture of any two flour).

 Other accompaniments would be fresh vegetables (‘alot’ in Dholuo) both wild and grown such as “dek,” “apoth,” “mito,” and “osuga.”

In Kisumu City, a meal of fried tilapia and kuon is very popular. The meal consists of deep-fried tilapia, ‘kuon’ and cooked fresh vegetables (‘alot’). Prepared in a more modern way, but still maintains the idea of what traditional meals consisted of among the Luo ethnic tribe.