Malawian food is built around nsima, a thick maize porridge cooked to a stiff, dough-like consistency. It is eaten with both hands, rolled into balls, and used to scoop up relishes — usually a stew of fish, meat, or vegetables. Nsima appears at virtually every meal for most Malawians. It tastes of little on its own; the relish is everything.
Fish from Lake Malawi is excellent and should not be missed. Chambo (a type of cichlid) is the prized freshwater fish — mild, white-fleshed, and usually served grilled or fried whole. It has become rarer and more expensive as lake stocks have come under pressure. Usipa (dried and salted small fish, similar to sardines) is eaten everywhere as a cheap, nutritious relish. Kampango is a large catfish, especially popular in the north.
Meat is mostly goat and chicken at the budget end; beef appears at better restaurants in cities. Nyama choma — grilled meat — is found at roadside spots throughout Malawi and can be excellent.
Vegetables are straightforward: tomatoes, onions, cabbage, sweet potato leaves (mkhwani), and pumpkin leaves are the staples. Beans and groundnuts feature heavily in rural cooking.
Street food includes mandazi (fried dough, lightly sweet, good with tea), roasted maize cobs, and fried usipa. At the bus stands you'll find vendors selling samosas, boiled eggs, and whatever's in season.
Tourist restaurants around the lake and in Lilongwe and Blantyre serve international food — pizza, pasta, burgers — at prices that feel reasonable to European or American visitors. Quality varies. The best food is often at mid-range lodges that cook fresh to order.
Drinking: Carlsberg lager is brewed in Malawi and is ubiquitous. Local chibuku (a sorghum beer, thick and sour) is drunk widely. Malawi tea is genuinely good — the country is a significant tea producer, growing mainly in the Thyolo and Mulanje highlands. Tap water is not safe to drink.