drive thru
I posted on Instagram last week that they have Real Drive Thru in Nairobi. This needs proper noun capitalization because we do have some kind of drive thru here on the coast. But Nairobi is like a different country - much more developed, much more modern, much more enforcement of traffic regulations, and much more convenience.
We got a 6-piece family meal at Chicken Inn. It came with 4 sides: 2 were fries and 2 were coleslaw. That's right. No fried okra. No mashed potatoes. No mac and cheese. No biscuits (and I'm using the American meaning of the word here). Still, it was exciting. I've never had Real Drive Thru in this country!
Our drive thru places on the coast have no buildings, only people standing along the roadside with stuff to sell. There are specific places where you can count on getting specific things, much like you can count on a Frosty at Wendy's or perfect chicken sandwiches at Chick-fil-a. Here's a bad picture of a fruit drive thru.
We got a 6-piece family meal at Chicken Inn. It came with 4 sides: 2 were fries and 2 were coleslaw. That's right. No fried okra. No mashed potatoes. No mac and cheese. No biscuits (and I'm using the American meaning of the word here). Still, it was exciting. I've never had Real Drive Thru in this country!
Our drive thru places on the coast have no buildings, only people standing along the roadside with stuff to sell. There are specific places where you can count on getting specific things, much like you can count on a Frosty at Wendy's or perfect chicken sandwiches at Chick-fil-a. Here's a bad picture of a fruit drive thru.
We can always find fruit at the above pictured drive thru in Mombasa. We can get cashews, ground nuts, and sometimes cassava crisps at a drive thru on the highway. The drive thru we frequent most often in Malindi has only cashews. At another drive thru on the highway, we can get squid (dead, but not cooked). I know you're jealous. During mango season, there are mango drive thrus everywhere, though these typically have a table set up.
There are also pop-up drive thrus. These are places where every now and then, but not daily, we'll see someone holding something up on the side of the road. Often, it is a live chicken or duck, though sometimes it is a dead (and gutted) fish.
We have never bought animals, live or dead, at drive thrus. It feels a bit icky to me. But we do buy fruit and nuts. It's a small measure of convenience in an otherwise fully inconvenient place to live.
And fresh roasted cashews make a great road trip snack.
We have both kinds of drive-throughs here in Quito (Ecuador) but the information ones are much more frecuent at other parts of the country. I do love th informal drive-throughs, especially the fruit ones.
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting! I wondered if the informal kid exist in other parts of the world.
DeleteI have really enjoyed following you on instagram! What fun to be able to read your blog as well. Belize only has one drive through. It is about 2 hours away from us at an ice cream place. We also don't own a vehicle here either so it wouldn't make a difference if we did have a drive through. Thanks for the tour of drive throughs and things sold! I can't imagine buying fresh meat through a car window either!
ReplyDeleteIce cream drive thru would improve my life immensely!
DeleteI love hearing the Instagram posts fleshed out a bit more! There is just something about seeing a "REAL" drive through, isn't there. When I saw my first one in China, even though I was on foot, I had to walk through it and take a ton of pictures :)
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in college, we had an annual video scavenger hunt (with those camcorders with tiny video cassettes). Walking through a drive thru was always on the list. I think you would get extra credit for doing it in China. :)
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