Eating American Food In Aden, Yemen 🇾🇪
- Konrad Tillman
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Intro
Following a lovely flight on Air Djibouti from Djibouti to Aden, and the debacle with a visa at immigration, it was time to hit the ground running in Aden. I had informed my guide in the morning that I was really hungry and wanted to eat as soon as I landed.
Well, where did he take me? He took me to the Yemeni version of Shake Shack, and I've gotta say: I LOVE IT!
My Issue With Food
Look, I love to travel, but there are a few things that you have to understand about me when it comes to food:
I have a severe allergy to nuts, limiting my street food and local food options. Even if they don't contain nuts, cross-contamination is real in parts of the world. Yeah, I wish I could eat street food to share with you all, but I can't.
Growing up, I had a severe problem with eating, and I hate to use this word, but I actually have been diagnosed with "PTSD" based on food. How can that be? Well, I am not going to share, but what I will say is that it was getting much better until I developed a nut allergy. Talk about bad luck, ha.
So look, I am sorry, but if you are following along for street food, I just can't provide that.
American Food
I digress, we headed off through a couple of checkpoints and made it to the mall, which is a staple piece of Aden, actually. I'll talk about the mall in a separate post (tomorrow), but located upstairs, in the very back, is a food court that could resemble one in California.
There are plenty of options, ranging from ice cream to Flipz burgers, and even a pizza shop that tasted just like Papa John's. Wow!
For my first meal in Yemen, I decided on having Flip Burgers, which was absolutely delicious! Truly, it tasted exactly like Shake Shack in terms of the texture, but was even more delicious than Shake Shack. To complement, I had some chicken tenders. Delicious!
If I might add, I just want to point out how friendly the people working at Flipz Burgers are. There was a young man who took my order every day, and while my guide was going to order in Arabic, the man wanted to practice his English with me (which was already amazing btw). I'm so thankful for the hospitality I was shown in this country. Much love.
Anyways, my gosh, as someone who lives in the USA, it is so cheap here (for me, not Yemenis). The burger was about 2$ for a double double, and the tenders were a dollar each. Wow. Maybe I should buy a house here and live full-time??? (I'm joking)
Additionally, before heading out fishing the day after, I came back to enjoy a pizza from the other place. Coming out to 2$ for a whole pizza, I enjoyed a delicious pepperoni pizza that tasted exactly like Papa John's. LOL.
It was really really good, and had the garlicy taste to it hehe.
The Soda Situation
With the food basis covered, I figured I would share something which most people do not know about Yemen. Back in the day, before the war with Israel and Palestine (please leave politics off my page) started, Pepsi was imported from Israel. However, due to the war and the stoppage of the export of Pepsi products, Yemen had to improvise. Instead of Pepsi, they now serve a local knockoff version named Kinza. They have all of the flavors, such as lemon-lime, Cola, Orange etc.
You can still find Pepsi and Coca-Cola products at some stores, but these are remnants of before the war, probably expired, and a lot more expensive if not.
By the way, did you know that Yemen used to actually produce beer back in the day? Genuinely, they had their own beer! WOW!
Final Thoughts
Anyways, I just wanted to share a quick look at a surprising aspect in Aden, Yemen. It's sort of crazy to think that I had a better burger in Yemen (of all places) than in America, and a delicious pizza as well. Stay tuned for a more local twist, as I did end up eating a local meal, which turned out to be the fish I caught!
Yemen Series:
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