Basotho food is simple, filling, and based on a few staples: maize, sorghum, beans, and leafy greens. It is peasant food in the honest sense — meals designed to fuel hard physical work at altitude.
Papa is the equivalent of South African pap or Zimbabwean sadza: a stiff maize or sorghum porridge eaten with everything. Moroho — cooked wild greens or spinach — is the most common accompaniment. Likhobe is a warming dish of boiled beans or peas cooked with maize, common at communal meals. Motoho, a fermented sorghum porridge with a pleasantly sour taste, is a traditional breakfast.
In towns and at tourist lodges you'll find South African-influenced menus alongside Basotho dishes — grilled chicken, stews, and braai (barbecue) are all common. Malealea Lodge and Semonkong Lodge both serve decent food, including filling set dinners that work well after a day on horseback.
Fresh vegetables and fruit are available in Maseru's markets. Tap water in Maseru is treated, but stick to bottled water in rural areas.
Beer — usually South African brands — is available throughout the country. The traditional Basotho beer is joala, a fermented sorghum brew made at home. You may be offered it in a village — it's polite to accept even a small amount.