1. Chapatti: this is basically fried dough and they cook it in TONS of oil - their signature. Oil. It is just like fried bread I guess, but bland in flavor and I don't really like it on it's own although a lot of people do. It is a snack you can get off the street (note the man we always buy it from in the market in the picture below) and our cook used to make it for dinner once a week with rolex... which leads us to the next food...
2. Rolex: this is chapatti with fried eggs rolled up in it. Hence the name - rolled eggs, which the people pronounce here as rolex. Mercy used to make this once a week and put plain chapatti with it and I got so sick of it I started eating just the egg out of it - shh don't tell. I love fried eggs, but for some reason putting chapatti with it takes away almost all the flavor! Which is probably why they do it!3. Chikka rolex: Lets spice things up a bit and put beans with our rolex, as you see below. We mzungus actually invented this one - one of the team members was ordering rolex from our main man in the market and asked "do you ever serve the rolex with beans?" and the man looked at him like he was crazy and said "oh no.. no no" almost like it was forbidden. But then Dane said "well can we try it?" and he thought for a second, shrugged, and did so hahaha. For some reason I found this encounter really funny. I followed this one down with a coke to kill the parasite that may or may not have planted itself in me b/c of the dirty dish I may or may not have eaten out of.
4. Samosas: these are kind of like Japanese egg rolls. They are just pastries filled with veggies or meat - although one time I got some off the street in Namatala slum and I think they were filled with potatoes, or at least that's what it tasted like...? Ya never know. They are actually super delightful - all the ones I've had have been good!5. Matoke: this is banana mashed up and mixed with..... something.... that makes it taste kinda like potato. You would think it would be sweet, but it isn't. It is decent, but only with other things.
6. Posho: I actually haven't tried this one, because the only night our cook made it I was experiencing the BRAT diet (Bananas, Rice, Apple Juice, and Toast) b/c I was sick and had (forgive me) diarrhea. But it is kinda like porridge with no flavor. Yum! Our guard David was eating this the other day with white ants - apparently delicious! Who wants some?? Check out the biggest pot of posho known to man:
7. White ants: David cooked us some white ants one night as a side dish to our dinner. These are not your typical ants - they are huge and have big wings, but he takes the wings off and cooks them in butter and oil so they end up tasting kind of like a salty chip. We made the second wavers eat these upon initiation into Africa - mwahahaha. If you can't eat a white ant, you can't survive Africa! It was actually pretty cruel, because all of us first wavers didn't have to eat white ants, we just chose to. Since I ate the one I did, I have been worried that other little white ants have hatched inside me.......... okay so I'm not that worried, but that would be pretty pleasant, yes?
7. Beef, rice, cabbage, and potatoes: This is a standard meal that you often get served in Uganda I have noticed. We got this at Impact Ministries Primary School during an assembly once and the rice and cabbage tasted like they'd been in a sewer and the beef was pretty fatty... lets just say Devin ended up eating a lot more rice and cabbage then he probably wanted to! Thanks Devin!
8. Chicken eggs and beak: Okay so we haven't really eaten these, but our cook Mercy and our guard David eat them! Apparently it is the part of the chicken with the best taste (which probably means tasteless). MMMM!
9. Cake that smells like wet dog: For Whit's (country director) birthday we got a lady from church to make her a cake. It smelled like wet dog, and that is not a lie. Because of this I only had a little taste after others assured me it did not taste like wet dog, but just (surprise surprise) wasn't very flavorful!
10. Rice and beans: we have started to eat at a little restaurant every now and then for lunch that sells tons of rice and beans for cheap! Although come to find out, after open communication, three groups of us have gone and been charged different prices.... haha. They are supposed to be 1500 shillings, which is equivalent to like less than a buck! What a steal! And that is why since then we all catch each other eating there a lot - in fact, one day four groups of us went there and oddly enough there was hardly any overlap!11. Disappointing desserts: basically, no matter what dessert you order here, you are hardly ever satisfied. You order crepes with nutella and you might get crepes with brandy in them OR they might get it right, but you only get a teaspoon of nutella... :( but beautiful tomatoes on the side since tomatoes go so nicely with crepes and nutella. ;) You order apple pie and you get bread with minimal filling. You order brownies and they don't come. Which is why I have been craving brownies since week 3 haha. Although, apparently you can get a stellar brownie with ice cream in Jinja (a few hours from Mbale)!
12. The best pineapple, mango, and avocado on earth!
This list doesn't include the 50+ peanut butter and jelly sandwiches I have consumed for lunch nearly every day since I have been here... rest assured I will not be eating those when I get home!!
Anyone hungry?
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