Sufuria

Various sizes of sufuria (center) displayed along with jiko braziers (foreground) at a metalworker's shop in Malindi, Kenya
Burundian soldiers cooking in sufuria over an open fire

A sufuria (Swahili sufuria; English plural sufurias[1]) is a Swahili language word, adopted in the local African Great Lakes regional variety of English,[2] for a flat-based, deep-sided, lipped and handleless cooking pot or container. It is ubiquitous in Kenya, Tanzania and other Great Lakes nations.[3] A replacement for more traditional crockery containers (ek fara), it is used in many Kenyan households for cooking, serving and storing food.[4] Most sufuria are today made of aluminum, and produced and purchased locally in the informal sector.[5] Sufuria were traditionally used to cook over open fire, a charcoal brazier (a jiko), or coals, and are purchased in a variety of sizes, with and without lids.[6]

  1. ^ Kenya "SchoolSpeak". Old Cambrian Society, The Prince of Wales School / Nairobi School, Nairobi, Kenya. September 2004.
  2. ^ Ailie Cleghorn, Marilyn Merritt and Jared O. Abagi. Language Policy and Science Instruction in Kenyan Primary Schools. Comparative Education Review, Vol. 33, No. 1, Special Issue on Africa (Feb., 1989), pp. 22
  3. ^ Richard W. Bailey, Manfred Görlach. English as a world language. University of Michigan Press, 1982 ISBN 978-0-472-10016-3 p.317
  4. ^ Transformation of the Kisi pottery enterprise. in Patrick O. Alila, Poul O. Pedersen; Negotiating social space: East African microenterprises. Africa World Press, 2001 ISBN 978-0-86543-964-1 p.273, 275
  5. ^ Krista M. Donaldson. Product design in less industrialized economies: constraints and opportunities in Kenya. Research in Engineering Design. Volume 17, Number 3 / December, 2006.
  6. ^ Ann Gardner. Karibu: welcome to the cooking of Kenya. Kenway Publications Imprint Series/East African Publishers, 1993 ISBN 978-9966-46-987-8 pp. 170, 178, 179