Why is Ethiopian food so similar to Indian food?

For instance, the Gurage ethnic group has a bread called Kocho, made from Enset or false banana leaf. That doesn't exist in India anywhere. The same is true in reverse. South Indian food has ingredients like tamarind, coconut, coriander, and so on. None of these are present to my knowledge in Ethiopian cooking. read more

Also, the way the food is prepared has a somewhat superficial resemblance to indian food. For instance, the dish Key Misir Wot is an awful lot like the Indian dish Channa Masala. Beyond this, the cuisines are totally different and involve things that don’t exist in India. read more

The appearance of the inhabitants, too, is not so far different in India and Ethiopia; the southern Indians resemble the Ethiopians a good deal, and, are black of countenance, and their hair black also, only they are not as snub-nosed or so woolly-haired as the Ethiopians; but the northern Indians are most like the Egyptians in appearance. read more