East Africa · Street food
Chigumu (Baked Sweet Cornmeal Cake)
A dense, golden Malawian street bread combining sweet bananas, hearty maize flour, and a hint of warm baking spices.
The story
Pervasive across roadside stalls and bustling open-air bus depots in Lilongwe and Blantyre, Chigumu is Malawi's premier on-the-go midday tea bread. Traditionally baked inside a heavy cast-iron Dutch oven set directly over hot wood embers with glowing coals piled atop the lid, it develops a caramelized crust and a dense, moist interior. Street vendors historically relied on overripe bananas and local white maize meal leavened with chidulo (wood-ash filtrate) before commercial baking powder became standard.
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