Food and Dress

In Somalia, location and livelihood influence diet, but on the whole, the Somali diet is low in caloric intake and high in protein consumption.

Milk, ghee (liquid butter), and meat, supplemented by wild berries and fruits, provide nomadic pastoralists with about half of their traditional diet. Other foods such as sorghum, corn, rice, tea, sugar, dates, condiments, and occasional vegetables are purchased or traded for livestock and livestock products.

Despite Somalia's long coastline, fish consumption traditionally has been limited to coastal towns, although in recent years more fish is being consumed in the interior. Traditional society holds fishermen and the eating of fish in low regard. Nomads, in particular, disdain fish consumption: To eat fish is to show that one is not a good herdsman.

Farmers enjoy slightly more variety in their diet, consuming more cereals (often soor, a sorghum porridge, or canjeero, a flat unrisen bread), grain legumes, and vegetables than do the nomads. Farmers in the riverine areas consume more fruit, especially bananas and citrus, and vegetables. Among the Raxanweyn, coffee beans cooked in ghee are considered a delicacy. The coastal cities and towns, influenced by the Arabian peninsula, offer a greater variety of dishes. The Italian influence is also seen in the large amount of spaghetti, known as baasto, consumed by Somalis.

As Muslims, Somalis are forbidden to eat pork or lard or to drink alcohol. Somalis in urban areas may drink alcohol, but most still do not touch pork. All meat must be slaughtered in a special way so that it is xalaalclean and pure. In the United States, kosher foods meet Muslim dietary requirements.

Shaped by the country's location as an international trade route, Somali attire is quite diverse. At work or school, in a modern setting or away from their homeland, most Somalis wear Western dress in public. But for leisure or in rural areas, traditional dress prevails. Men wear two lengths of white cotton wrapped around them as a skirt and shawl or they wear a macaawiis, a brightly colored cloth, similar to an Indonesian sarong. With this they may wear a Western shirt or shawl and cover their heads with benadiry kufia, a Somali cap.

Women's dress is even more diverse. Except for schoolgirls, who wear trousers and shirts, Somali women usually wear full-length dresses. These come in a variety of styles. The traditional Somali guntiino is similar to an Indian sari but made of simple white or red cotton, although the well-to-do often wear more elaborate versions. In cities and in the rural areas of the north and northeast, women wear thin cotton or polyester voile dresses over a full length half slip and a brassiere. Married women wear head scarves, but usually do not veil, with the exception of more fundamentalist women and women from old conservative Arab families. Traditionally, married and unmarried women could be told apart, not only because of the scarves, but also because single girls braided their hair and did not wear makeup or perfumes or use incense in their hair. Urbanization, however, is eroding this distinction. Minor regional variations in women's clothing are also disappearing.

Among women, hand and foot painting, using henna and khidaab dyes, is popular. The artist is generally a woman who uses the plant-based dyes to apply elaborately stylized paintings that cover the foot up to the ankle or the hand up to the wrist. Its application often signifies happy occasions, such as a marriage or the birth of a baby.

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