/ck/ - Food & Cooking

I recently spent 6 weeks in Uganda and Rwanda, and yes, the food is fantastic. I lived with local families, so I was eating very traditional meals.

Rwandan food was much more plain that Ugandan. Most nights my host family would make just rice and beans, but they always had this chili oil that was dangerously spicy and unimaginably flavorful. Most restaurants are buffet style, and the buffets would include fresh fruit, (pineapple, watermelon, bananas, mango), sliced vegetables (red peppers, cucumbers, carrots), white rice, red beans, various stwes made with vegetables and beef, goat, or chicken, posho (ugali), cassava root, and fried potatoes (a crowd pleaser). In Rwanda you are much more likely to find western restaurants and western food. One night I went to an italian restaurant and got some of the best lasagna I've ever had.

Ugandan food was absolutely delightful. Although it was available in both countries, I found much more chipati in Uganda, which is a simple flour and water bread that's cooked in vegetable oil. Omlettes (eggs with onions and peppers) were also very popular as breakfast or as an afternoon snack to be eaten with tea. Rolex was AMAZING. It's basically a mixture of chipati and an omelette. Avocados were very popular, and I even had guacamole a number of times. Fish was more prevalent here as well, and it was often dried, which I did not like much. Groundnuts (peanuts) were a huge staple in their diets and the often made stews and sauces (like homemade peanut butter-YUM) with it. You wouldn't think that peanut fish stew would be good, but it's really quite good. Matooke (boiled, mashed green bananas), cabbage, and potatoes (irish and sweet) were also common. My favorite meal was this wrap-like lunch I had. This wonderful woman used chipati as a wrap and put an omelet and sliced avocado inside. It was simple, but so fresh. I also had tangerine/avocado juice which was to die for.