The African Gourmet

Spoken in the African countries of Tanzania, Burundi, Kenya, Mozambique, Somalia, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. Swahili is also one of the offical languages of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda About 35% of the Swahili vocabulary derives from the Arabic language. Disney’s animated film The Lion King contains several Swahili references. “Simba”, the main character’s name, means lion. Gene Roddenberry took the name of Lieutenant Uhura in Star Trek from the Swahili word uhuru meaning “freedom”. The game ‘Jenga’ (a test of physical dexterity involving the deconstruction of a tower of finely balanced wooden blocks) is derived from the Swahili word ‘kujenga’, the Swahili verb “to build”; Jenga! “Build!”, being the imperative form of the verb.