Zambian Food

Enjoy and share food

Food tastes better when shared with friends. Zambian Food is one of our community engagement activities. The main programmes are the Big Breakfast Challenge and the yearly Christmas lunch in Kabwe. It’s an activity in which we provide the funds and perhaps a few ideas, and the community joins in to deliver a meal, typically breakfast or lunch to children usually, but in some cases the wider community.

We have so far run the Big Breakfast in Kitwe, Lusaka, Ndola, Kabwe, Kasama, Mbala and Mongu. Head over to our Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/zambianfood to see photos and comments on this work. Please also share your recipes, good food ideas and how to grow food.

"When I eat with my friends, it is a moment of real pleasure, when I really enjoy my life." - Monica Bellucci

The Big Breakfast

The Beginning

The Zambian Food Big Breakfast Challenge marked the point at which everything changed. I registered the domain name zambianfood.com in May 2010 and later in July of the same year, created the Facebook page - facebook.com/zambianfood

The Facebook post that kicked things off was this one on July 30th 2015. "There are over 3,000 of us who like Zambian Food. How about we team up and do something for others? All ideas are welcome. We can set a few things to guide us, but right now, I'm thinking Food!".

I noticed that of all the pages I had on Facebook, the Zambian Food page had the most likes by far. The Likes on the Facebook where now over 3,000. I figured that surely this should become something. I just didn't know that it would become an awesome organisation called Nilina Hope registered in Zambia in November 2016. I registered the domain nilinahope.com in April 2011, so it was also a coming together of ideas.

Nilina in Nyanja, means "I have". So the organisation name Nilina Hope, reads, I have hope. It's only recently that my brother Kenneth pointed me to this meaning, Nilina - "Your name of Nilina intensifies qualities within you of independence, positivity, and restlessness. It gives you the desire to be a leader, to pioneer new undertakings, and to try new ideas in practical, creative occupations." - from the website kabalarians.com

- George Mutale