Uganda: The Food

Well, I've got some other things I'd like to post about over the next week or so, but I was asked about the food, so that's what I'll cover today. Basically, we had two types of food--traditional Ugandan/African food and restaurant food. When we stayed at the Kolping House, we ordered dinner from their restaurant menu, while the LTCC was more cafeteria style (they served one meal to everyone in a buffet line). We also had several lunches out at restaurants and several traditional meals out at the centers during the day. I remembered to take a few pics as we went along...

Here's some Ugandan food. You might be able to spot the rice and cooked cabbage. The yellow stuff in the bottom center of the first pic is matoke, which is made from plantains. The white stuff if the top right is posha (not sure of the spelling or the main ingredient). At the top of the second pic are some potatoes. As for meats, they served chicken, beef, and fish. The third pic is of a team member's tilapia at the Kolping House. At the LTTC, we were also served some pasta (without sauce). Most meals included some fruit like bananas, pineapple, watermelon, papaya, or mango.

As for restaurant food, we sampled grilled kabobs (no pic, sorry!), Chinese, and sandwiches/burgers:

We also had great meals at Lake Mbrotu:

One of my favorite things to eat was the avocados, which I had heard about before the trip:

I also loved seeing the beautiful spreads of produce at the little stands along the highway. Notice how beautifully they stack up the food to display it:

Thinking back on the food reminds me of the great hospitality and generosity we experienced. All the events hosted by AMG included huge quantities of food that was served to everyone in attendance. The potions on my plate were meager (partly because of the stomach bug I had), but the Ugandan guests didn't hesitate to fill their plates to overflowing! Not only did we see this generosity at AMG sponsored events, but also during several home visits. At Namugoga, we were fed by agroup of mothers and given gifts of full baskets of fruit and avocados. Later, we were also fed by a grandmother who is single-handedly raising 9 grandchildren. That experience reminded me of the widow's mite from the gospels. She was willing to share with us all of what she had--that's faith in action.