What to eat Uganda? culinary specialties and gastronomy

Maize and plantain are probably the most common staples of Ugandan cuisine. Other starchy foods include cassava, yam, sweet potato and rice, as well as the rarer imported potato. Among the most consumed meats are beef, chicken, mutton, goat and pork, not forgetting various bush meats. However, meat is generally reserved for feast days. Nyama is the Bantu language word for " meat ". Although Uganda has no coastline, the country stretches along the immense Lake Victoria, the largest tropical lake in the world, and its fishy waters. Tilapia or Nile perch, a fish that can reach 2 m and weigh 220 kg, are eaten here.

Among the vegetables, onions, tomatoes, avocados, cabbage, spinach and various kinds of peas and dried beans are widely used. Okra or okra, a vegetable resembling a green chilli, but with a zucchini taste, is also eaten. It is very popular for its viscous juice which is used to thicken sauces.

Of course, your meals will be different if you travel to the high-end lodges and hotels where the cuisine is largely Westernized, or if you travel independently. On the road, many small local restaurants (hoteli) allow you to taste authentic traditional cuisine, often in buffet form. The driver-guides usually know the best places to eat, and the prices are very competitive. In Kampala, you will be able to taste Ugandan specialities, but also more exotic cuisines (Indian, Chinese, Italian, Japanese, Ethiopian, Turkish, etc.).

The two mainstays of traditional Ugandan cuisine are matooke (mashed plantains) and posho (or ugali

), which is found under different names in most of Africa. It is a paste made from maize that has been mashed and stirred with boiled water and can be eaten lightly sweetened with milk for breakfast. The posho, like the matooke, is taken in small handfuls and then kneaded in the palm until a compact ball is obtained. The posho is then used like a piece of bread to pick up the various side dishes: chicken, fish or vegetables. It can also be moulded into a dish and then turned out onto a plate once it is firm and cut into slices.

There is also a variety of posho called kwon that is made from millet. Called kalo in the west of the country, it is sometimes made with sweet potato starch in eastern Uganda. The other mainstay of the local cuisine is matooke. The name also refers to the variety of plantain that is used to prepare this dish. This dish is served with meat in sauce, alongside rice, beans or fish. Peanuts are a popular ingredient in Uganda and are most often cooked in a thick sauce (binyebwa) that is more or less smooth and served with meat, vegetables, posho and matooke. This sauce is used to prepare malewa, a stew of smoked bamboo shoots. Malakwang is a thick sauce from the north of the country made with the leaves of the eponymous vegetable, close to the hibiscus. Another northern specialty, dek-ngor

, is a very thick sauce made from lapena peas, which can be a dish in itself.

Among the most famous meat dishes is luwombo. This specialty consists of chicken, beef or fish, stewed in banana leaves. It is the meal for special occasions and is usually served at the buffet of the hoteli (small local restaurants). Otherwise, there is the muchomo

, tasty beef brochettes flavoured with a mixture of cumin, cardamom and cayenne pepper. As in the rest of East Africa, the Indian presence has had a strong influence on the local cuisine and chapatis (flatbreads), curries and samoussas are common in the country. Kikomando is a dish created in the 2000s based on chapatis cut into strips and red beans in sauce, very popular with workers and students for its low price. And don't forget the rolex (deformation of " rolled eggs ") a chapati topped with omelette.

Desserts in Uganda are not very varied. Simsim is a generic term for both sesame seeds and small sweets made from sesame seeds and caramel. Otherwise, let yourself be tempted by mandazi, a type of doughnut, generally flavoured with cardamom and shaped like a triangle, or discover kabalagala

, a kind of banana pancake. As for fruit, apart from the countless varieties of bananas, there are mainly passion fruits and pineapples, but also mangoes, oranges, coconuts and jackfruit, with its fibrous pulp.

Uganda produces excellent coffee, mainly Robusta, but outside the tourist establishments it is generally very light and coffee lovers should specify that they want a strong coffee. Because of the English tradition, Ugandans prefer tea, which the country also produces in large quantities, and which is served in bags or boiled in a pot, sometimes flavoured with a hint of ginger.

Beer is one of the most consumed beverages and the country has two large breweries. The Nile Breweries (in Njeru) brew Nile Special, Club or Castle while the Uganda Breweries (in Kampala) brew Bell, Pilsner and Tusker. Most of these beers are available in different strengths. In the villages, traditional beers (obushera) are made from millet or sorghum, such as enturire, flavoured with a touch of honey. Waragi is a generic term for a strong alcohol distilled from manioc, millet, banana, etc. Finally, try amarula, a South African liqueur reminiscent of Bailey's. Wine is often imported from South Africa, too.