English

Abstract

In Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, most restaurants are owned or operated by men, and most of the workers are also men; yet, at the domestic/household level, women are attributed to exceptional expertise in cooking and all other matters related to the kitchen. However, to participate in entrepreneurship in the food industry, especially in cooking and selling food to customers, many women tried to venture into operating their own small food service outlets or restaurants in marketplaces and in the vicinity of areas where many people work. These types of eating houses are known as bushka (singular) and bushashka (plural). Although somewhat Somalized in their formal use, the terms have been loaned from the English language and are attributed to low-level food service outlets that are not qualified to be called restaurants despite them serving the same purpose. This essay aims to discuss the operation of one such bush-eating facility in the Halane area in Mogadishu, near the Airport Hotel. It is owned by a woman named Maryan but whom people refer to as Mama Maryan, and her bush restaurant is Bushka Maryan or Bushka Mama Maryan.