No place for an "Atkins"er

Well if you love starchy foods then Uganda is the place for you. If you are on the Atkins diet…I suggest you look elsewhere. I am not exactly sure why these people refuse to grow anything but starch...but they do. When I first arrived I thought it was just my luck that everywhere I went they just served some different type of starch. Turns it's pretty much all they have to offer. Go to any restaurant or home and you will get a variety of about six. When I was in the village with the Innocents I realised that even if someone tells you we are having appetizers....it's starch.

They look like potatoes? Yep! They are.....sweet potatoes that we ate just as they are....boiled but we ate them as finger food. They weren't too bad but a little dry on their own.

The most common starch is for sure the Matooke. It is technically a banana that is still green….really green, however it tastes nothing like a banana. It kind of reminds me of cucumber mixed with potatoe. While they haven’t branched much from Matooke they have learned to cook it in anyway possible.

Mashed

Boiled

Steamed

Or you can eat it roasted with Muchomo.

When taking Matooke you must take not just Matooke but one or two side dishes as well. Don’t worry it's still starch but you have a few options.

Chipati - these are actually really good...almost like a pancake, really nice with peanut butter and bananas (it is the triangular thing in the back left).

Irish Potatoes (what we would simply call a potatoe).

Fried Cabbage and Rice

Pumpkin (little orange piece in the back there) and the white stuff is Posho. Posho is a millet flour dumpling of sorts. I am not exactly sure how they prepare it, but it loosely resembles a dumpling.

Then there is the driest most starchy food God invented (well maybe he actually didn't intend it to be eaten). Cassava, it's a root....and that's pretty much what it tastes like...root. It's one of the few foods I actually really don't care for.

Then when you are ready to wet your whistle why not wet it with...STARCH?? They drink all these flour/water mixtures that are somewhat like porridge but certainly no Apple Cinnamon, Maple or even sweetened porridge here just water and some form of flour. If you really feel adventurous you can try the one that has been sitting for 3 days. It puts hair on your chest (and if you know me ....I certainly don't need anymore of that).

Now there are a few other options aside from starch and if you are into eating cow’s stomach, goot hoof, or cow’s udder….be my guest. I have tried them all but certainly have not become addicted in anyway, shape or form.

Here is Joshua roasting a little piece of udder. It was much better than expected but I am not going to go around ordering if I get the chance again.

Some rumen (a little too reminiscent of a post mortem for me)…

And of course you all remember the hoof…but for those of you who don’t…

I am certainly not starving and have actually really come to love some of these foods. I am trying to learn to make them so I can make them when I get back to Canada. People here say that I am getting fat from all the starch I eat but the way my jeans hang off me tell a different story.

Also, I must apologize for my lack of posts. Work has been slow recently which means not a lot to report on. I will try and get a little more regular (with the posts people!).