What type of food would an Ethiopian restaurant serve?? Why in the world would anyone open one and who would it cater to ?

Who does it cater to? Anyone with an open mind that likes new experiences would be my guess. Someone able to ignore stupid stereotypes and bad jokes made in extreme poor taste.

I enjoy Ethiopian cuisine, although I do not like the bread. The texture is too flesh-like.

What an absolutely awful and ignorant thing to assume.

Restaurants of any ethnicity cater to the same people: people who are hungry. Ethiopian cuisine is different than American cuisine to be sure but it is delicious. When a large group of us went to one, we had a great time and greatly enjoyed the food.

Why don’t you check your ignorance at the door and try some Ethiopian cuisine sometime?

Ethiopian cuisine is delicious! The food is usually a spicy mix of vegetables, slow-simmered meat and stews, and fresh meat sautés. A lot of vegetarians and vegans eat it too because there’s really a large variety of things. It’s definitely different, but most people are usually open to new things.

Very healthy food, a lot of it vegetarian—healthy legumes and whole grains. Many of the dishes are made to be dipped into with the Ethiopian version of a soft piece of pita. Is particularly good for communal eating and very economical. Popular with city students on a budget.

We sent our 17 year old son to Ethiopia in the 80’s, as part of the ‘We Are The World’ mission.
He was a fussy eater when he left, but came back with a love for ethiopian cuisine. The foods he ate were not restauant foods but foods cooked by the people themselves. He developed a love of the food and enjoyed how they cooked over open fires with such simplicity.

We have an excellent Ethiopian restaurant in my neighborhood. I eat there all the time. The “type” of food that’s served, is, in fact ETIOPIAN! I know it might be hard to understand, but they do eat food, and it is delicious. The “type” of people they cater to, is pretty much anyone who’s hungry and walks in, ie the lucky ones.

LOL! You think people in Ethopia don’t eat anything ever??? I’d eat there. I prefer to have an Ethiopian restaurant in my town rather than not have one. Your ignorance just pissed me off.

@syz

“I enjoy Ethiopian cuisine, although I do not like the bread. The texture is too flesh-like.”

Thanks for the link- those images are very appetizing!
Are you saying that the texture of Ethiopian bread is like that of meat?

Ethiopian Food
More Ethiopian Food

The food is meant to be eaten by hand, using flat bread as the utensil to eat. I like it a lot.

@PandoraBoxx That looks so good!

@Facade, I was just thinking today that most cultures have some sort of flatbread—Indian food and naan, middle eastern food and pita bread, mexican food and tortillas, french food and crepes.

@Pretty_Lilly, when I was raising my daughters, I made a point to teach them about other cultures by eating foods from different countries on a regular basis. Thank you for reinforcing that this was a wise thing to do.

Wow, I’m actually offended by this question. And I try to make a rule of not getting offended by the Internet.

Ethiopian restaurants serve Ethiopian food. Ethiopia is actually a large country and hasn’t always been in such rough shape. The Ethiopian restaurants I’ve been to offer good vegetarian fare with lots of sauces, served with a spongy bread that you use to scoop your food.

It may not be your cup of tea, but it’s a fun place to take a group of people.

@Mamradpivo I see your point ! I gotta give you points for at least being polite.
I was not making fun of Ethiopians (Grant you I should have not included my cousin’s comments as they were inappropriate)
As I said I never thought of Ethiopia as a country offering great dishes,to me it made as much sense as someone opening up a Russian car dealership.they are not known for their great automobiles,what they produce is OK for Russian but it’s not something you would want to import to the US.

@Pretty_Lilly, your question comes off as really “ignorant and proud of it” sounding.

@Pretty_Lilly You should check it out, like I said, with a big group of people. There’s something about having a group who feel out of their element that makes everyone more comfortable.

I totally see your point about the Russian car, although I’ve always kinda wanted to own a Trabant. My counterpoint would be that there’s a long tradition of immigrants opening restaurants because they cook their home culture’s food better than anyone else in the community.

Yawn

This question makes me ashamed of humanity. Ridiculous. @Pretty_Lilly – I truly hope that you get to travel and see more of the world. Maybe then you can better appreciate other cultures and how amazing each one is.

Or pick up a book or a newspaper and learn about other parts of the world.

Ethiopian food is awesome, a guy here in town ran a one for about 5 years, he is a African geography teacher at a college nearby. There was a lot of interest and the food is really good (unfortunately makes me sick due to bariatric surgery) but, some of the most delicious stuff I have had.

The food is kind of like indian, from the curry and staple sense, the spice is similar but not the same, really delicious stuff. The bread they serve can be hard for some people to get past, but it is good, its a really soft spungy kind of wet bread.

Shops like that are a treasure, give it a shot if you get a chance. Trust me having no ethnic food around (besides “Chinese”) sucks.

@Brian1946 Less like meat and more like skin. It’s spongy and yet kind of rubbery – I have texture issues, and so it bothered me.

@syz I agree with you about the delicious food and I also have a hard time with the texture of the bread.

I went to a baby shower this weekend for an Ethiopian friend of mine. Her family/friends prepared traditional food and it was delicious (I ate it with rice instead of the bread). I’ve had it many times and eaten in Ethiopian restaurants before.

It is a bounty for a locality to have such a variety of gastronomical options.