Machete-Cracked · Zanzibar Coconut Water
Madafu
Photo: kungu irungu / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Vendors hack the top off the coconut with a machete right in front of you, so the water goes straight from the shell to your mouth without ever touching a cup.
Madafu is the water inside a young, still-green coconut, served ice cold straight from the shell with the top sliced open. Cycling street vendors and beachside stalls sell it across Zanzibar and coastal Tanzania as an instant, all-natural cooldown.
Why it's made this way: Coconut palms line the Tanzanian coast and islands, and madafu grew naturally out of that abundance into one of the simplest, most trusted street refreshments in the region.
More from Tanzania
Part of World of Street Food — 690 dishes from 118 countries.
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