What we eat.
Most of the conversations I’ve been having with people back home have gravitated towards:
- How we’re doing.
- How work is.
- If we have malaria.
- What we’ve been eating.
As soon as I get some better pictures of inside TASO during a clinic day, I’ll write-up a post about a day in the life of a TASO client/patient which would somewhat answer question two. However, this is all about answering the final question.
Keep in mind that there are a couple of American restaurants in town which serve burgers and pizza just in case we’re craving quasi-fast food (“quasi” mainly because it takes 45 minutes to an hour to get an order served) but most days, we’ve been eating the local cuisine. After a cursory Google-ing, Ugandan food was developed and centred around the idea of subsistence and pragmatism - you work hard in the field and you want something that will fill your stomach really fast. Also, due to the massive influx of south Asian immigrants in the past fifty years, there have definitely been some Indian/Pakistani influences on the food here. Which brings us neatly to breakfast.
The Rolex (pictured above) is what Sarah and I get for breakfast usually 3/5 working days of the week. It’s a two egg omelette with green peppers, onions, tomatoes and sometimes cabbage (if you’re lucky!) wrapped between two chapatis. Remember that Indian influence I talked about earlier? Well, this version of a roti was imported alongside various Indian cultural artifacts.
Lunch and dinner are usually more authentically Ugandan which consist of a stew/paste and “food” (or massive amounts of starch/carbs). My personal two favourites are beans and rice (you don’t really need a picture for that) and Malakwang (pictured below; kinda vomit-esque) which is either kale of chard boiled with peanut/sesame sauce. Looks terrible; tastes unique.
Sarah’s been eating a lot of Chicken Stew (below) which may conjure up visions of Grandma’s Chicken Pot Pie, but let me shatter your daydreams. It’s a thin broth made with a lot of chicken stock cubes and boiled chicken. There’s very little vegetable matter involved and we’re both thankful for multi-vitamins and fruits from the market.
As eclectic as this food may seem, it’s cheap. REALLY cheap. For beans and rice, you’d be crazy to spend over $0.75 per plate.
Otherwise, if anyone could send us somepho or sushi, that would be fantastic.
Casey
