Day 6

Let’s talk about food!

Probably one of my favorite things about traveling abroad is experiencing the culture through food.  I think you can learn a lot about a place via how people eat and share their meals, and obviously I just love to try about anything that’s put in front of me.  At least once.  Probably my best travel cuisine experience thus far has been in India.  I ate seconds (or thirds) at every meal, and had a nice glass of chai tea to go alongside.

I’ve had a fair amount of traditional Ugandan food thus far.  Unfortunately some larger towns you go to, like Mbrarara, seem to cater to visiting Muzungus in that they Americanize a lot of dishes and you don’t get a true food experience.  So far the most traditional food I’ve eaten has been at the hospital.  There’s two “canteens” there where you can get a really filling meal for about 4,000 Shillings, or a little less than $2.  Generally this consists of rice with a lot of other stuff piled on top.  It’s a bit of a carbohydrate overload, but I figure with the amount of sweating I’m doing, it probably burns off.  Anyway, here’s a few of the main food groups I’ve discovered and tasted so far:

Fruit – I love love love fresh fruit.  Sometimes it can be a bit dangerous to eat without preparing properly, but sometimes I find myself having a wild moment and just going for it anyway.  One of my favorites is passion fruit, which we don’t have back home.  Or if we did I’m sure it would be genetically engineered and flavorless.  Anyway, this looks kind of like a cross between a kiwi and ping-pong ball.  It’s hard and green on the outside.  Then you crack the hard shell and the fruit inside is bright yellow, semi-solid, and has these nice crunchy black seeds which are edible as well.  It tastes just delightful – a little more tart than sweet.  Anyway, the hospital cafeteria makes PF juice.  I was about to buy a glass the other day until my co-traveler Anem asked if they mixed it with the water, to which they replied “yes”.  My spirits were crushed.  Delicious passion fruit juice and possible massive diarrhea?  Or no juice and being a little sad for the rest of the day?  I went with the being sad choice.  Otherwise there’s fresh pineapple (which is interestingly a lot lighter in color than ours), delicious avocados, mangos, and bananas literally by the truckload (as in trucks drive down the road piled full of bananas).  So many to choose from!

Matoke (Ma-toe-kay)– this is, from best I can tell, mashed up ripe plantains.  It’s served on the side kind of like mashed potatoes would be in an American meal.  It has a very mild banana flavor mixed with somewhat of a starchy flavor.  I’ve been eating buckets of this at lunch, until I found out there’s a condition here called “Matoke-booty” where you eat too much Matoke and your booty gets real big.

Posha (Posh-ah) – this is maize flour combined with water to make a solid mash-type food.  I’m not really sure why it’s a common food here … if it’s supposed to be something you sop up sauce with, or you just eat it plain?  But it tastes kind of like you would think … like uncooked flour mixed with water that’s firm in texture.  So that’s kind of weird.  Maybe I’ll acquire a taste for it?

G-nuts and G-nut Sauce – this seems to be THE prototypical Ugandan food so far.  G-nut means ground nuts.  They seem to be in the peanut family but are a little smaller than our peanuts and taste somewhat more mild.  They grind them up and mix them with something (?) that gives the sauce an eerie lavender color.  I was a bit put-off when it first arrived on my plate at lunch, but it turned out to taste pretty good!  It’s not an obvious peanut flavor like Thai peanut sauce, but nice and mild and would go with pretty much anything you put it on I guess.

If I find any more fantastic foods, I’ll let you know!  Apparently BBQ Goat is a big deal here, so I’ll try and get my hands on some!