The Bantu are Negroid people who speak languages traced to have come from a same parent stock. It is thought that their dispersal began in an area between rivers Niger and Congo about two thousand years ago. They are believed to have come to Tanzania virtually from all directions. As cultivators, they came looking for land to expand their farming occupation. The bulk of the people of Tanzania today belong to this Bantu stock. The Chagga, Pare and Shambaa of the northern highlands, the Hehe, Bena and Nyakyusa of the Southern highlands, the Sukuma, Haya and Kuria of the interlacustrine area are a few examples of Bantu people. The Swahili language is also a Bantu tongue.

The staple food of the Bantu is maize. Several varieties of foods can be prepared from maize but the commonest is ugali, which is made from maize flour and water. Ugali is mainly a lunch or dinner meal and goes with a sauce which range from bean stew to cooked vegetables. Though the Bantu are mainly cultivators, most of them today have tried other occupations away from the farm. Nevertheless, the farm - or shamba as they call it – still has a deep meaning to their lives. They look at the shamba, as a place where a person relies upon for subsistence. It is a place of treasure, where you scratch to survive. In the daily life, it stands out as genuine collateral. In the eyes of the society, keeping a Shamba is a sign of prudence, the first measure of building one’s future, and an important place to return to after retirement.