Although a largely Muslim community, Zanzibar is used to western ways. Small bars can be found everywhere, serving the popular ginger beer, tangawizi. Tourists, however, are expected to be respectful through covering their legs and arms and by being discreet in drinking liquor especially during Ramadan, a month of fasting for the locals.
A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Zanzibar combines Moorish, Indian, Middle Eastern and African traditions in its architecture. The Portuguese also left some remnants of their rule over the region. Among these are a few Swahili words and bullfights which are regularly held in Pemba.
Taarab, or joyful music, is a musical genre and an heirloom from the Arabs who historically made the region the capital of a glorious Sultanate. Another Arab import combined with Persian and Indian influences is the Zanzibari cuisine, which is usually composed of barbecued meat with coco milk and spices.
The people's lingua franca is Kiswahili, which has become a variation of the de facto national language, Swahili, due to the intermarriages between the native Bantu people and the Arab and Persian migrants.