What’s the food like in Uganda, you ask? It’s a lot of pretty good, albeit bland, carbohydrates. A typical day (at least in training) goes something like this:
Breakfast: a hard-boiled egg, a piece of bread with honey or ground nut paste (peanut butter) or jam that tastes like beets, and some fruit (usually watermelon or mangoes or pineapple).
Tea Break: Ugandans have tea twice a day that is served with a snack. The snacks today were doughnuts for morning tea and popcorn for afternoon tea. Sometimes the snacks are little cookies or meat pies.
Lunch: at least three carbohydrates such as rice, matooke (plantains), plain noodles, potatoes, ground millet (brown paste), or posho (white paste). Also, there’s some protein like goat or catfish and there’s almost always beans or bean paste. I’ve chosen to turn my wannabe vegetarianism into actual vegetarianism here, so I don’t partake of the meat. Lunch is served with some bitter greens or a cucumber and tomato salad or squash or (once) eggplant. It also comes with some fruit, usually watermelon.
Dinner: see lunch.
Are you beginning to see why women PCVs tend to gain weight here? Other than the carbs, the only problem I’m having with the food is the lack of variety. Before I left, I was cooking 5 meals a week and I didn’t make the same thing twice in over 2 months. That’s how much I love variety! Some days I think, "I’d rather go hungry than eat rice again"…and then I serve myself up some rice. Some things here are extra tasty, like chapatti (a homemade tortilla) and the famed rolex (I haven’t tasted it yet, but it’s legendary). I’m sure new food adventures are coming soon when I move in with my host family!
Fun Fact: both the pumpkin and the orange are green here.
Tea Break: Ugandans have tea twice a day that is served with a snack. The snacks today were doughnuts for morning tea and popcorn for afternoon tea. Sometimes the snacks are little cookies or meat pies.
Lunch: at least three carbohydrates such as rice, matooke (plantains), plain noodles, potatoes, ground millet (brown paste), or posho (white paste). Also, there’s some protein like goat or catfish and there’s almost always beans or bean paste. I’ve chosen to turn my wannabe vegetarianism into actual vegetarianism here, so I don’t partake of the meat. Lunch is served with some bitter greens or a cucumber and tomato salad or squash or (once) eggplant. It also comes with some fruit, usually watermelon.
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| Mango, pineapple, and...carrots. |
Dinner: see lunch.
Are you beginning to see why women PCVs tend to gain weight here? Other than the carbs, the only problem I’m having with the food is the lack of variety. Before I left, I was cooking 5 meals a week and I didn’t make the same thing twice in over 2 months. That’s how much I love variety! Some days I think, "I’d rather go hungry than eat rice again"…and then I serve myself up some rice. Some things here are extra tasty, like chapatti (a homemade tortilla) and the famed rolex (I haven’t tasted it yet, but it’s legendary). I’m sure new food adventures are coming soon when I move in with my host family!
Fun Fact: both the pumpkin and the orange are green here.
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