well, here i am in kenya.

Kampala, Uganda

- Starches – I LOVE Kampala. It’s the perfect sized city (about the side of Pittsburgh or Portland). Probably if I lived in Uganda the sheer politeness of everyone would drive me totally crazy, but it is such a welcome relief from Nairobi. It’s slower and quieter, a bit dustier and less electricity, but they make up for it with beautiful green hills and a wider variety of starches than in Kenya. There is a lot of matoke – a variety of bananas that are boiled or fried, often the boiled version is mashed. Mmm. And then there is a lot more ‘brown’ ugali than you’ll find in most parts of Kenya (other than western Kenya). This is ugali made from other grains, usually finger millet. More protein, more vitamins, more tasty.
- Groundnut sauce – Somehow they make it fluffy kind of. And usually the peanuts are pounded with the red skins still on them, so that makes the sauce sort of pink. So good with matoke.
- Bananas – I hate bananas in the US. I love bananas in East Africa. They might be different, or I might just have a different attitude.

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

- All of the food (except the raw meat) – so….good…..
- Tejj – Honey wine. Drinking it makes you feel like a greek god (well, yes, it is potent. But I’ve never drunk very much, so I can’t say whether or not one would eventually feel that one has power to intervene in the lives of mortals. It’s more the fact that it is honey wine, and tasty honey wine, that makes me feel that way)
- Coffee – I reckon Ethiopians have drunk coffee longer than anyone else in the world, seeing as it originated in Ethiopia. Up country they have coffee ceremonies three times a day. These are a people who take coffee seriously, and well they should.

Accra, Ghana.

You know how West Africans tend to be really tall and big? It might be because they have the best food in Africa.

- Red Red – Fried plantain, bean and tomato sauce, fish. The whole thing as spicy as you can take it.
- Jollof Rice – Chicken, rice, vegetables, the whole thing as spicy as you can take it.
- Shiroo – the chili sauce that makes everything so very good.

# posted by debbyscott @ 2:27 PM