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Published: August 5th 2008
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Uganda - my first African food
The first thing I ate upon arrival. Picked it up on the side of the road. Toasted banana = yummy. They don't usually eat these large bananas (like what we have), but typically have smaller bananas which are very sweet. (wrote this awhile ago and meant to publish it but never had great internet connection to upload all the pics)
Several people have asked about food, so I thought I'd write a little and post some pictures of all the delicious (and not so delicious) things I've eaten in Uganda and Ghana.
UGANDA: I don't think there was ever anything that tasted really bad.
However, it was ALL
very unhealthy. We ate pretty much the same thing every day for lunch and dinner -- matoke (mashed and heated plantains), spaghetti, rice, beans, fish or goat (which I only tried once. The goat's very fatty), potatoes (sometimes fried like french fries), and pineapple or watermelon. It was good but just about everything was fried in some way or another. There were lots of delicious snacks that I will post pictures of.
We didn't really eat breakfast. Sometimes we had bread or bananas and there was always tea.
What I missed: healthy food and vegetables.
GHANA: Advantages - there is variety and it is a bit healthier. Disadvantages - I don't like the taste of a lot of it. It's really not that bad, it's just not what I would
Uganda - Cookies and Chipati
Two of the most delicious (and unhealthy) foods.
The cookies - or pies as the Ugandans say - taste like banana bread, but they're fried in oil.
Chipati - like a deep fried tortilla. So greasy, but sooo good. choose to eat if I had the choice. And, to be fair, some of it has been quite tasty. There's 3 main staples of local food that they eat a lot - fufu, banku, and t.z. They all look the same to me (kind of like dough but not so sticky and dry). Some are made from yams and others from maiz, some are pounded and others are heated and stirred until it solidifies. I can't tell the difference between the 3. Then we also have rice and spaghetti sometimes. The sauces for the 3 local things and the rice and spaghetti vary - groundnut sauce, this red fishy sauce, okra and other stuff sauce, etc. I made the mistake of telling my host mom how much I loved the vegetables the first time she served it and now I get cabbage and carrots just about every day.
Breakfast: My host mom used to make me an omelette, oatmeal, bread, and tea every morning. (Note: The oatmeal alone was 3 times more than I eat at home when I just eat oatmeal for breakfast). I started making my own breakfast when she takes the kids to school partly because I
Uganda - Typical Dinner
Unfortunately, I didn't get matoke that night. It's bright yellow and mushy (like mashed potatoes I guess). But we always had rice (and usually beans) and spaghetti. And the fried cassava (like french fries) were always a treat. was tired of eating so much (and I mentioned a couple times that it was too much food) and partly so that I could feel like I was helping out and not being waited on all the time.
What I miss: Knowing that I will like the food every meal even if there's no variety. (I don't think I'm a very picky eater, but my taste buds just didn't enjoy themselves that much.)
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sarah
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Taste for it
Off to uganda tom and you've def got me in the mood for some nsima/ugali/fufu.... Great photos and enjoyed the blog.