Posted for ZWT7 Whether or not the Swahili and other African peoples of the Eastern African coast traditionally ate oysters does not seem to be well documented. There are very few recipes for oysters in African cookbooks, and those that there are come from Western Africa. Thus, it seems possible that Oysters Mombasa originated among expatriates in Africa during the era of British colonialism in Kenya. Mombasa, an island-port city on the Indian ocean, served as the gateway to the "white highlands" and "Happy Valley" of Kenya for European settlers arriving by ship. It's easy to imagine jazz-age European elites eating oysters like this in Mombasa's hotels and restaurants. To this day, Kenyan oysters are featured on the menus of restaurants and resorts, mostly frequented by tourists, along the Kenyan coast.