Ethiopia: Teff, Injera and Wot

Injera (njera) is a large, flat, unleavened bread. Flour is mixed with water and fermented for a few days before cooking. Pieces of injera are torn off and used to scoop up or grasp stews and salads called wot (wat). Wot are highly variable, including chicken, lamb and beef, lentils, greens, vegetables, and eggs.

Injera is a notable food for several reasons. First is its distinctive texture (soft, spongy, slightly elastic) and taste (slightly sour). Second is its great utility -- it serves simultaneously as staple food, utensil, and plate. Third is the conviviality it engenders, as it is designed to be eaten by a group.

Injera was traditionally made with teff (tef), a grain domesticated in ancient Ethiopia with remarkably small seeds. However flour for injera in Ethiopia today commonly contains other grains such as maize, and Ethiopian restaurants in the US usually serve injera made from wheat and teff. But real teff injera is superior not only in taste, but it stays soft and spongy for several days, unlike wheat injera.

Teff is an unusually nutritious grain, with high levels of calcium, phosphorus, and iron; it is also high in protein, with an excellent amino acid composition (including all 8 essential amino acids for humans, and lysine levels higher than wheat or barley). It contains no gluten, so it is appropriate for those with gluten intolerance or Celiac disease.

Unlike many African crops, such as pearl millet and glamerrima rice, teff is not in decline; it continues to be widely grown in Ethiopia. But as the National Research Council (1996:215) writes, "Tef is so overwhelmingly important in Ethiopia that its absence elsewhere is a mystery." There are only a few small teff farming operations outside of Ethiopia. The Teff Company or Idaho supplies most teff to Ethiopian restaurants in the US. Perhaps the most interesting teff farming operation is the recently started project in Nicodemus, Kansas, a town founded by ex-slaves.