Although we've discovered a good brand of apple juice, it doesn't quite cut it when along with the apple juice comes salty eggs that taste a little off and bread that appears to be dyed yellow. Typically, I'll just eat a couple pieces of bread and drink some very spicy tea.
The morning continues on and I think about what I'd like for lunch. My mouth is watering just thinking about a piping hot BBQ chicken pizza. I would kill for a turkey sandwich with some fresh lettuce or better yet... a pita!
Instead, we eat rice and beans. I'll give Ugandans a point when it comes to beans. I never ate beans before but here, they are fresh and very tasty. The sad part is, we eat them every day so they got boring pretty damn fast.
By the time 4p.m. comes around, it's snack time! Or at least I'd like it to be snack time. Unfortunately, the best snack you can find around here is fried white ants. Not exactly ideal in my mind.
By 7p.m. all I can think about is lasagna with garlic bread and a fresh caesar salad. The weather here is perfect for BBQ food. A cheeseburger or even a single hot dog with some real ketchup would do me just fine right now.
Sadly, we eat rice (again) and maybe some cabbage salad. If we're lucky we get chapatti - basically a fried pita that you can't open.
I try to eat the meals but a lot of the time I just can't do it so I turn to the incredible fruit this country grows. The juiciest pineapple, the tastiest watermelon and the freshest mangoes you will ever find are here.
Another option is going to the Irani-run supermarkets to buy expensive and obscure flavoured Pringles. I do that quite often.
So you see, I can say that I've adapted to the food but if I'm being honest with myself, I've just found ways to avoid it and live off fruit and Pringles.
Stay strong my friend. You are loved greatly here and I am sure your big smile and kind meaner will sweep every african off their feet ! :) You seem to be in a mixed state while you are there. I feel like you will find... your place very soon, your writings are amazing and very fun to read! keep writing and letting us know how you feel. I hope you experience many more miracles and emotions, and people and kindnesses that can only come from the place that you are in. Much love and god bless :)
ReplyDelete- Matty (giving you big smiles from here) <3
Have you tried the fried ants? If you haven't, try them. They might be tastier than you think.
ReplyDeleteYour Aunt Susan
I'm with Aunt Susan on this one. I had steamed snails in Morocco and they were pretty good. You should definitely try the ants at some point, if you haven't already.
ReplyDeleteAlso, fruit in this part of the world is delicious. And I can barely identify fruits back home.
Oh, and Pringles are everywhere. Their distribution system is amazing! Thus ends my random thoughts. Your temporary Rwandan neighbour,
Mike
Although I'd be the last one to call Ugandan food the best in the world - I don't exactly get cravings for Ugali that often - but I always found the trick was tiny little dashes of something flavourful. When I was working in the south, we ate potatoes for every meal, so it was big business to splurge in the store and just buy a couple things of mustard, and it was glorious. Do they have honey in the north? In the south we used to go to markets and track down buckets of the stuff and use it on our chapatis etc...
ReplyDeleteI must admit, though, that a bit of lasagna and caesar salad (along with sushi and vietnamese soup) often figures into my travelling daydreams as well.
Good luck! We'll compare food cravings some day
peace
Josh