(CNN) — Ethiopian food is both distinctive and delicious, befitting a remarkable country with a cultural heritage that stands out from the rest of Africa. While the cuisine of Ethiopia is gradually becoming better known, it’s no overstatement to say it remains one of the world’s best-kept secrets. Eating Ethiopian-style means rethinking many assumptions you might have about dinnertime — for most of us this means starting with eschewing cutlery and being ready to get messy fingers. That’s because the foundation of the vast majority of Ethiopian meals is injera, a giant grey spongey pancake-like bread, upon whose strangely rubbery surface are served a vast array of foods, ranging from multi-colored mounds of spicy stews to vegetable curries to cubes of raw meat. Wot is Ethiopia’s version of curry. Robi Mengstab This mode of eating is highly communal, with everyone gathering around a large circular metal tray of injera heavily laden with food as hands go back and forth scooping up from the various piles of foodstuffs with strips of injera torn from the edges. All this can take some getting used to; tourists have been known to mistake injera for the tablecloth or for kitchen flannel. Also, the bread’s…