Grilled Skewers · Zebu Beef

Masikita (Zebu Skewers)

📷 Closely related photo — Photo via Pexels/Unsplash — free for commercial use

Masikita are threaded onto skewers barely thicker than a chopstick — thin enough that the meat cooks through in under two minutes over the coals.

Small cubes of zebu beef are marinated in soy sauce, garlic, and ginger, threaded onto thin wooden skewers, and grilled fast over charcoal braziers set up on street corners. Vendors around Antananarivo sell them a handful at a time, often with a peanut dipping sauce called voanjobory on the side.

Why it's made this way: Zebu cattle carry deep cultural weight in Madagascar as a marker of wealth and status, and cutting the meat into thin, quick-grilling skewers let street vendors turn a prized protein into an affordable, everyday bite.