The local food that I've tried in Masaka is not exactly bursting with flavour or spices or variety or creativity (unless you're in Jinja. But I'll save that for its own post). The cuisine does reflect some Arab, English, and Indian influences in terms of types of foods rather than how food is prepared or seasoned. The staple foods are matoke (mah-toe-kay), posho, and cassava. The texture of matoke is kind of like mashed potatoes, so sometimes that's what I pretend it is. I'm not really a fan of posho; it tastes like what I imagine paste would taste like. My host family is a Muslim family and so we also have rice quite often (according to one of my host brothers, eating rice is part of the Muslim diet). Alone, they're pretty tasteless, but if you add salt to anything, taste ratings go up. It's a good thing I'm generally fine with food being on the bland side... but I sure do miss my sesame oil, soy sauce, and cupboard of spices.
A typical dinner at home will consist of one or two of the staple foods served with a 'sauce' which may consist of groundnuts/peanuts, beans, various vegetables, and/or meat. However, since the price of meat has skyrocketed, I'm pretty much on a (unbalanced) diet of veggies (tomatoes, eggplants, avocados, and the occasional squash), bread/bread products, sweet bananas, and eggs... heavy on the bread since it's the most readily available thing! I'm lucky in that my host family grows most of the produce we consume which is fantastic and delicious. They also don't eat a whole lot of meat given the dietary issues of my host father. And since I eat what they eat... well. There you go. Meat is a special occasion food and is generally prepared via boiling.
At lunch, I just go out and see what I can find: bread, buns, samosas, chapatis, rolexes, biscuits. Rolexes are yummy. They consist of a chapati, fried egg with onions (think scrambled egg omelet type thing), tomatoes, and cabbage which is all rolled up like a burrito. These are available on little street carts pretty much everywhere. But as with most street foods, this comes with a caveat: pick your cart carefully! Thankfully, I haven't run into any issues with tummy bugs, yet.
And then there are the beverages. The beverages are quite sugary and sodas are widely available (Mountain Dew is a local favourite). I really do enjoy the sodas here, though and their accompanying mottos ("Mirinda Fruitty. Good for your health!" I highly doubt that, but thanks for trying to make me feel better about it, anyway). Also, if you purchase a drink in a glass bottle, you have to drink it right there in the store and leave the bottle behind. I think the practice is that they send all the empty bottles back to the bottling companies and they are re-used. If you have to get going, the shopkeeper will pour your drink into a little plastic baggie and give you a straw to go with it.
Juice IS available. Sort of. I have orange juice with my breakfast in the morning -- but it's the sugary powdered drink mix kind. If you go to a restaurant, freshly squeezed juices are the more expensive drink item on the menu. So, I imagine that many of the locals forego the freshly squeezed juice option. Interesting, no? People here really love their sugar. The other main thing one drinks here is tea (with heaping tablespoons of sugar added, natch)... but not coffee. Interestingly, coffee plantations are all common and are considered a cash crop -- for export purposes. IF you have coffee here, it's Nescafe instant stuff. And then you have beer. Beer is very much appreciated here (unless you are Muslim in which case you don't drink) and they have a few decent Ugandan brands.
Oh! And November is the month of Nseenene (grasshoppers)!! They actually make pretty decent snacks and are a specialty, particularly in the Masaka region. Apparently, it's quite the thing to actually watch people catch grasshoppers but I haven't come across it, yet.
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| A paper cone of de-feathered, de-legged, salted and fried grasshoppers. |
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| Nseenene! |
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