Blog and website for William Rubel, author and cook specializing in traditional cuisines

Changaa is the distilled beverage consumed in much of Kenya, including amongst the Samburu, pastoralists living in Northern Kenya. Changaa can be made from a variety of grains — malted millet and malted maize being the most common. At the time these photographs were taken, late summer 2001, the countryside was awash in maize owing to a large-scale famine relief program so it was a good year for the distillers.

The trade in homemade alcohol is strictly illegal so there is an element of risk for the producers. I think that it is unfortunate that small scale production of alcohol — a few liters at a time — is illegal because selling alcohol is an important source of income for Samburu women who live in the bush. Though illegal, changaa is easy to purchase. It is even sold, literally from under the counter, in many village shops. On the outskirts of Maralal beaded women stand with milk in mineral water containers. You ask, “May I buy some milk?” They then go over to nearby bushes to get the alcohol.

The chang’aa is typically served out of a yellow plastic jug originally used to store cooking oil. The yellow jugs and the cooking oil come from Germany and are part of the famine relief program. A coffee mug filled with maize chang’aa costs 20 Kenyan shillings, about 25 US cents in fall 2001