Fooooood!!!

As most of you know, I am a pretty hard-core foodie, I used to plan out my meals, and loved going to new restaurants and trying new things. Ugandan food is very unique. There seem to be several staple foods, and not much else that Ugandans eat. I’ll break down the foods that I eat on a regular basis to try and give you a flavor for the food here.

Posho: Made from maize flour posho is white, and tasteless with the consistency of VERY thick mashed potatoes. I eat posho almost every day for lunch.

Matooke: I helped make matooke once, so I know exactly what this dish consists of. Matooke is made from green bananas almost like plantains, but not as sweet. After you have peeled these bananas with a knife (they are too hard to peel by hand), you squish them up and cook them in a pot for a long time. For me, matooke is actually less appetizing than posho, it’s like gluey banana-ish paste.

Beans: We eat a lot of beans here. While beans require no explanation, it should be noted that they are usually spiced up to be pretty delicious.

Cabbage: Shredded cabbage, often cooked with tomatoes is served with most meals.

Irish Potatoes: That’s what they call regular white potatoes here (as opposed to sweet potatoes). These are cooked many ways, mashed, steamed, but my favorite is fried! I found this little store in Kaihura that sells a whole bag of deep fried Irish potatoes for 1,000 UGS! That’s about $0.40. Chips (french fries) are served often too.

Eggplant: Eggplant is served sautéed a lot, or if you’re lucky deep fried. Chapatti: Kind of like indian nan bread but waaaaaaay more delicious! I could eat chapatti with every meal.

G-nuts: they are basically peanuts, that get turned into a sauce or are boiled or eaten raw.

Meat: Meat is eaten sparingly, and it’s usually not cut very well, so it’s fatty and stringy.

Avocado: The avocados here are great! They are twice the size of the avocados in America and much more flavorful.

Fruits: Uganda has tropical fruits in abundance: bananas, passion fruits, guava, jack fruit, mango, pineapple etc. Passion fruit is my absolute favorite! While tropical fruit abounds, not many other fruits are imported, you can buy apples and oranges at the grocery store, but I think they are rather pricy.

Tea: Loose leaf African tea, is a big thing to drink with breakfast, with milk, or sugar, or just by itself. Tea and bread are what is most often eaten for breakfast.

Soda: Soft drinks are much better here, I think it’s because they are made with real sugar, and they have more of a variety. Sodas are also cheap to drink, 1,000 UGS for a glass bottle.

The above foods are most of the staples that are eaten on a daily or bi-daily basis. There are also other things that people snack on like sugar cane, corn, fried baked goods etc. There are also some pretty decent restaurants close-ish by, if I ever really get sick of posho.