We have been asked many times how our family is coping with eating all the new and different foods here and how we are surviving without Swiss Chalet, so I thought I’d do a little story about food here in Uganda. I’m sure it will be of more interest to the women as we are “foodies” by nature! Uganda is a lush country, usually free from major rain or drought although the Northeast has experienced heavy rains lately and a lot of crops were ruined. The local diet consists of a thick porridge made of maize flour called posho (yuck, but they REALLY love it), beans (sometimes mixed with cabbage, onions and tomatoes) and matoke which looks like a big banana but tastes more like a potatoe. If there is money left over for food, they will add rice, potatoes, meat, greens and a sauce called g-nut sauce. G-nuts are ground nuts and are exactly the same as our peanuts.  So far we haven’t come across any kids with g-nut allergies thus we haven’t had to instigate a g-nut free zone at the school. 

 

Whenever we get together with any other expats (people living here away from their home countries), the topic of conversation always turns to food in about 5 minutes flat. We reminisce about what we all miss: good bread, cheese, celery, good quality chocolate, potatoe chips, kraft dinner, jujubes, Big Macs, pizza, creamed honey, normal tasting milk, peaches, strawberries, relish, any soup from a can, cream cheese, cereal, walnuts, ceasar salad, Tim Hortons and Starbucks, dill pickles, chocolate chips, turkey, bagels, tortilla chips, lunch meat, red licorice, bacon, rootbeer, pears, and the list goes on and on. Let me just say that although we crave certain things from home, we are definitely not suffering here when it comes to food, groceries and restaurants! The 5 pounds we lost when we first arrived is back and here to stay.

 

We brought a few Swiss Chalet gravy packets to make when we have chicken, a few packets of the kraft dinner cheese, some lipton chicken noodle soup packets and a supply of Canadian chocolate bars and candy that we bring out whenever we get homesick. We also brought peanut butter and pancake syrup which we didn’t need to bring thanks to a produce line of grocery items called American Garden. Thanks to this line of “food that tastes like home” we can get BBQ sauce, syrup, mustard, peanut butter, creamed corn, salad dressings like italian, greek and thousand island, mayo, spaghetti sauce and so on.  I haven’t tried the spaghetti sauce yet, there are so many tomatoes, onions and peppers around, it is easy to make it fresh in just a few minutes. 

 

Supermarkets are plentiful here, the two biggest and best ones being Shoprite from South Africa and Uchumi from Kenya. Then there are a bunch of others from places like India and Dubai which also have some different things and better baking isles. If you see something you want, you have to grab a bunch because you may not see it again for many months if ever, the stock is always changing. There are local supermarkets everywhere and these have good prices but you can’t always count on their selection. It seems you have to hit a bunch to get your whole list done. Fruits and veggies are available everywhere at little stands across the city, they are fresh and inexpensive.  There are “boutique” grocery stores for the wealthy Ugandans and the high paid NGO and embassy employees with everything from stuffed roast pork, to homemade sausages and imported cheeses. We don’t bother to visit these, we are getting by amazingly well without them and when you work in an area like Banda, the whole food thing makes you very aware of the massive difference between the rich and the poor.

 

 I had a problem with meat going bad when we first arrived. The power goes off every few days which means the fridge is also off, so we have learned that if we don’t eat the meat the day we buy it, we need to keep it in the freezer. Both chicken and beef are slightly less expensive than home and really good. There is a beef filet here that is about $5 for a whole roast and delicious, we can’t wait to show my Dad, the meat man! Friday nights, we BBQ a beef filet, pick up fresh chipattis from a stand to act as our tortillas, make fresh salsa, and make fajitas which we have named “chiparties”.   We have found some sour cream that tastes almost like home but looks like yellow paint. We have seen a few big turkeys roaming around but have never seen any turkey meat for sale. Tim was tempted to use his bow and arrow or conveniently run one down the day before Thanksgiving……we settled for chicken.

 

I guess the biggest adjustment would be that there are no “convenience foods” like PC frozen lasagne, and no drive thrus for that quick bite when you are in a rush. Every meal takes planning and time because everything has to be made from scratch. There are however, little food stands on the side of the road where you can stop to grab something quick and cheap. The rolex is one of our favourites: a chapatti on the grill, an egg scrambled with cabbage, carrots and tomatoes on top and then rolled up ready to eat for about 35 cents. You can get a cob of roasted corn for about 10 cents, a piece of BBQ’d chicken on a stick for 65 cents, a fresh samosa for 30 cents, chicken and fries at the Shell gas station for $2.75, and a whole chicken roasted on a spit for about $4.50. 

 

We have only found one good pizza place so far, it is owned by an Italian family and it is set in a neat open-air space covered with a thatched roof. A large pizza (enough for 2) at Mamba Point is between $9-12. Tim says it’s the best pizza he has ever had. Here are some examples of places to eat and some prices:

 

Cinnamon bun at NY Kitchen – 70 cents

2 scoops of Italian ice cream at Ciao Ciaos - $1.25

Beef shwarma at the Garden City Food Court - $3

Coffee and apple turnover at La Patisserie - $3.40

Cheeseburger, fries and coleslaw at Ranchers - $3.50

2 large skewers of beef with salad at Rwenzori café - $4.50

Plate of chicken lollipops from Haandi Indian Food - $5

2 for 1 Irish stew on Mondays at O’Learys - $5.75 for 2 bowls

Sweet and sour chicken with cashews and rice for 2 people at Garden City - $8

All you can eat Mongolian Grill - $11

Large rack of ribs at the Black Lantern in Jinga - $13

Sunday brunch at the Serena Hotel - $23 (we’re too cheap to try it so far but I hear it is amazing! – we’re waiting for our parents to come and take us there)

 

You will not break your grocery budget here if you can stick to the local bread, meat, pasta, rice, fruits and veggies.   You can also spend a fortune if you want to pay the huge upcharge for all the imported items that you are missing and craving! Good thing Matt is coming at Christmas with a new stash for us. For those of you planning on visiting us, you can now officially cross “food” off your list of things to worry about! Check out the photo page of the website for a bunch of food pictures.