Adjective
Pronunciation: keh-nah-nah
Soft, tender meat or fat. The best meat.
In Kenya, animals that are young and kenana are preferred in the urban centers, hence the large demand for young Samburu-raised animals in the Nairobi market. The Samburu themselves seem to prefer older, tougher meat. As Samburu animals are all free range, no mature animal will have flesh marbled with fat. At the same time, Samburu animals have a pronounced taste, so each bite or spoonful of stew is flavorful.
Goat tends to be more tender than cow, and meat from a young goat is more tender than that from an old goat. Because cows are so valuable, young cows are not slaughtered. Kenana meat is rare.
Return to Other Samburu Words.
This is the draft manuscript of the Samburu Milk Project, © 2024 William Rubel.
Published by William Rubel
I am an author who writes about traditional food and foodways. My book, The Magic of Fire (2002) is about hearth cooking. I have written an introductory history of bread, Bread, a global history (2011) and am currently writing a history of bread for the University of California Press. Other areas of interest include wild mushrooms, and specifically the treatment of Amanita muscaria in the historic record. I also write about Early Modern British Gardens, and for a more general audience, I write for Mother Earth News on bread, gardening, and more. I have an ongoing research project into the smoke-cured fermented milk of the Kenyan Samburu tribe. I am a co-director of the Samburu Lowlands Research Station, Lengusaka. I am the founding editor (1972) of Stone Soup, the magazine of writing and art by young people.
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