Ugandan food is hearty, fresh and generous. It’s built on bananas, beans, groundnuts, fish from the great lakes and some of the best fruit you’ll ever taste. Lodges serve international menus, but it’s worth going local at least a few times. Here’s what to look out for.
The rolex
Uganda’s most famous street food is the rolex: an omelette with cabbage, tomato and onion, cooked on a hot plate and rolled up in a fresh chapati. The name comes from “rolled eggs”. Chapati came to East Africa with Indian workers in the colonial era, and the rolex is thought to have started in the Busoga region before becoming a favourite with students in Kampala. Today it’s sold on almost every street corner, and it makes a perfect cheap, filling breakfast.
Matooke, posho and the staples
- Matooke: green cooking bananas, peeled, wrapped in banana leaves, steamed and mashed into a soft yellow mound. It’s the heart of a Ganda meal and a national favourite.
- Posho: a firm maize-flour porridge, much like ugali in Kenya. It’s eaten with a sauce, often beans.
- Katogo: a one-pot breakfast of matooke cooked with beans, groundnut sauce or offal. It’s cheap, filling and much loved.
- You’ll also see sweet potatoes, cassava, rice, beans and chapati on many plates, often all at once.
Sauces and stews
- Groundnut sauce (binyebwa): peanuts ground and simmered into a rich, creamy sauce. It’s served with matooke or sweet potato, sometimes with smoked fish or mushrooms.
- Luwombo: chicken, beef, fish or mushrooms steamed slowly in a parcel of smoked banana leaves. The dish is said to date from 1887, when it was created by a chef at the court of Kabaka Mwanga II, and it was once kept for royalty. Today it’s a celebration dish, and a real treat if you see it on a menu.
Fish, meat and snacks
- Tilapia and Nile perch: caught in Lake Victoria and other lakes, and usually served fried whole or in a stew. Lakeside towns such as Entebbe and Jinja are great places to try them.
- Muchomo: grilled meat, usually goat, beef, chicken or pork, on skewers. It’s sold by roadside grills, especially in the evening. It’s often served with roasted plantain (gonja).
- Nsenene: bush crickets fried with onion and salt. They swarm in the rainy seasons, especially around November, and are a prized seasonal snack. Crunchy and surprisingly tasty.
- Roadside snacks: roast maize, samosas, mandazi (fried dough) and chicken on sticks, sold through bus windows on the highways.
Fruit
Uganda’s fruit is outstanding. Look out for small, sweet bananas (ndiizi), pineapples, mangoes, papaya, passion fruit, avocados and the huge, fragrant jackfruit. A fresh juice at a lodge breakfast is one of the simple pleasures of a safari.
Ugandan coffee
Coffee is one of Uganda’s most important exports, and the country is among Africa’s leading producers. Robusta coffee grows wild in Uganda’s forests and is grown widely in the lowlands, while arabica comes from the slopes of Mount Elgon and the Rwenzori Mountains. You can join a farm tour around Sipi Falls to see coffee picked, roasted and brewed, and there’s a growing café scene in Kampala. Bags of locally roasted beans make a great souvenir.
Where to try it
Kampala has everything from roadside rolex stands to restaurants serving luwombo and buffets of local dishes at lunchtime. On the road, our guides know the best places to stop. Many lodges will also cook a Ugandan dinner if you ask in advance, which is a lovely way to try several dishes at once.
Practical tips
- Drink bottled or filtered water, and ask for drinks without ice unless you know it’s safe.
- Choose busy stalls where food is cooked fresh in front of you. A rolex straight off the pan is a safe bet.
- Wash fruit or peel it yourself.
- Vegetarians eat well: beans, groundnut sauce, matooke, vegetables and fruit are everywhere. Let us know about any dietary needs and we’ll tell your lodges in advance.
- Meals are often eaten with the right hand in local homes. Wash before and after.
Food is one of the easiest ways to connect with a place. We’re happy to include a Kampala street-food walk, a cooking session or a coffee tour in your trip. See our tips on staying healthy on safari, then get in touch to start planning.
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