Zimbabwean Grocery and Butchery Shops in the UK: Finding Lacto, Matemba, Goat Meat and Other Staples

For Zimbabweans in the UK, finding the foods that make a house feel like home — Lacto, Chibuku, matemba, maputi, Mazoe, Colcom polony, and fresh goat meat — has become considerably easier over the past decade. A combination of dedicated Zimbabwean online retailers, African grocery stores in major cities, and South African food shops that carry crossover products means most staples are now accessible without a trip to Zimbabwe. ## Online Retailers Shipping Nationwide For those not based in cities with large African communities, online delivery has become the primary route to Zimbabwean groceries. **Happy Hippo Foods** (hippofoods.co.uk) is one of the most established Zimbabwean-focused online food retailers in the UK. They stock a wide range of staples including Kapenta (matemba) at around £4.49 for 200g, pearl millet (mhunga), finger millet (zviyo), samp, white maize kernels, peanuts, Mazoe, and Spaletta drinks. They offer free delivery on orders over £60 and ship to mainland UK only, with delivery typically within four working days. **Zimfoods** (zimfoods.co.uk) focuses heavily on Zimbabwean snacks, biscuits, and branded groceries. Their range includes Lobels biscuits (Lemon Creams, Vanilla Creams, Bermuda Creams, Custard Creams), Charhon's biscuits, Topper Biscuits, Simba products, Royco Usavi Mix in both chicken and beef varieties, Colcom French Polony, Cerevita in banana and chocolate malt flavours, and fresh Mauyu (baobab fruit). Wholesale boxes of Cerevita are available for families buying in bulk. **Zimtuckshop** (zimtuckshop.co.uk) carries traditional foods, beverages, Zimbabwean books and novels, African print fabrics, traditional household utensils, and a range of snacks and treats. It positions itself as a one-stop shop for both food and cultural items. **Hungwe Tuckshop** (hungwetuckshop.co.uk) is London-based, operating primarily out of Woolwich Arsenal with a click-and-collect option. They also run periodic city-to-city delivery tours — customers can contact them on 07472350503 to find out when they may be visiting a particular area. Their stock includes Cerevita, Iwisa maize meal, baobab mauyu, King Kurls, fresh groundnuts/nzungu (1kg for around £7.25), and traditional wooden cooking utensils including mugoti, musika, and mugwati. ## Birmingham Birmingham has one of the largest Zimbabwean and broader African communities in the UK outside London, and the retail options reflect this. **Samis African Store** (samisonline.com) operates three locations in Birmingham and also sells online with home delivery: - 1063 Pershore Road, B30 2YJ - 285 Birchfield Road, Birmingham B20 3DD - 82–89 Cecil Street, Newtown, B19 3SU Samis describes itself as a one-stop African-Caribbean store covering groceries, essentials, and everyday cooking needs. While not exclusively Zimbabwean, their African food range typically includes products familiar to Zimbabwean shoppers. ## London London's African food retail scene is spread across several boroughs. Woolwich, Peckham, Brixton, Tottenham, and Stratford all have concentrations of African grocery shops. Peckham in particular (south-east London) is well known for West and Southern African food shops along Rye Lane and surrounding streets. Zimbabwean-specific products such as matemba, maputi, and mealie meal are often found alongside East and West African staples. For goat meat specifically in London, **The Black Farmer** (theblackfarmer.com) offers British-reared goat online with chilled UK-wide delivery (minimum order £35, free over £50). They also have physical farmshops in Brixton and White City where goat can be purchased in person with no delivery charge — useful for Londoners wanting fresh cuts without a minimum spend. Goat is available as whole legs, shoulder cuts, and other portions suitable for slow-cooked dishes like Zimbabwean-style stewed goat. Halal butchers across London — particularly in areas like Whitechapel, Lewisham, Harlesden, and Seven Sisters — also regularly stock fresh goat and occasionally mutton, often at competitive prices compared to specialist online retailers. ## Sending Groceries Back to Zimbabwe **ZimGroceries** (zimgroceries.co.uk) operates a different model: rather than delivering to UK addresses, they take orders from diaspora customers and deliver fresh groceries directly to families in Zimbabwe. Based near Harare, they offer curated hampers and a build-your-own option. Delivery pricing within Zimbabwe ranges from around $8 for within 10km of Harare CBD (free on orders over $100) to $13 for 30–70km. This service is used by Zimbabweans across the UK, Canada, the US, and Australia to ensure families receive fresh food rather than relying on dried or packaged goods sent in barrels. ## Practical Tips - **Stock rotation**: Products like Colcom polony, matemba, and Mazoe go quickly and are frequently listed as out of stock online. Signing up for restock alerts on sites like Zimfoods is worth doing. - **Buying in bulk**: Several retailers offer wholesale pricing on Cerevita and maize meal for families or community groups placing larger orders. - **African supermarkets**: Beyond Zimbabwean-specific shops, general African-Caribbean supermarkets across UK cities frequently carry Southern African crossover products — particularly maize meal, dried fish, and soft drinks. - **The Savanna** (thesavanna.co.uk) is primarily a South African food retailer but carries some Zimbabwean-relevant products including Happy Hippo maize kernels and Maputi. - **Facebook groups**: Community Facebook groups such as Zimbabweans in the UK often share real-time information about which shops have restocked specific items, pop-up deliveries, and local sellers operating informally from home.