220px, alt=Mbege being poured, ''Mbege'', a traditional chagga brew Mbege is a kind of

banana beer Banana beer is an alcoholic beverage made from fermentation of mashed bananas. Sorghum, millet or maize flour are added as a source of wild yeast. Etymology In Uganda, banana beer is known as ''mubisi'', in DR Congo as Kasiksi, in Kenya as ''urw ...

traditional to the

Chagga The Chaga or Chagga (Swahili language: WaChaga) are Bantu-speaking indigenous Africans and the third-largest ethnic group in Tanzania. They traditionally live on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro and eastern Mount Meru in both Kilimanjaro Regi ...

ethnic group of

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

located in ''Kilimanjaro'' region. It is an

alcoholic drink An alcoholic beverage (also called an alcoholic drink, adult beverage, or a drink) is a drink that contains ethanol, a type of alcohol that acts as a drug and is produced by fermentation of grains, fruits, or other sources of sugar. The c ...

made from fermented bananas. The process of making of mbege is labor-intensive and time-consuming as the majority of the process is done by hand without the aid of modern technology. The initial taste of mbege is said to be sweet and is followed by a slightly sour aftertaste.

Process

The bananas are mashed and then cooked in a cooking pot over a fire for 6 hours. It is then covered and left outside to

ferment Fermentation is a metabolic process that produces chemical changes in organic substrates through the action of enzymes. In biochemistry, it is narrowly defined as the extraction of energy from carbohydrates in the absence of oxygen. In food ...

for up to 7 days. The fermented mixture is strained through shredded grass and banana leaves and a thick porridge made from the flour of finger millet and water is added to the strained liquid. A small amount of quinine-bark flour is then added to the mixture in order to tone down some of the sweetness of the bananas. It is then left to sit out for another day before it is ready to be consumed.

In popular culture

*The process of making mbege was featured on

Travel Channel Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, which had previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in New York, New York, United S ...

's show

Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern Bizarre may refer to: *Bizarre (rapper) (born 1976), an American rapper and member of hip hop group D12 * Bizarre (band), a Spanish rock band * ''Bizarre'' (TV series), a Canadian sketch comedy television series * ''Bizarre'' (magazine), a siste ...

References

* Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern (Season 4, Episode 1: Tanzania) * Kubo, R. and Kilasara, M. (2016): Brewing Technique of ''Mbege'', a Banana Beer Produced in Northeastern Tanzania in: Beverages, 2, 21; doi:10.3390/beverages2030021 (http://www.mdpi.com/2306-5710/2/3/21) African cuisine Fermented drinks Tanzanian culture Types of beer {{drink-stub