milk and food

I kept a list of the food I liked while on my trip. The first item to make the list was Worcester flavored pretzel nuggets, which British Airways served on my flight. Another notable item from the flight was the Lily O'Brien cookie. Yummm. Tanzanian discoveries in my first few days included maandazi (a chunk of fried bread that you can dip in sugar - like donuts!), chapati (like a pita but almost always served warm, sometimes with egg in it), chips mayai (hmm ... like an egg and potato omelet that you cover in ketchup) and ugali (excellent when served with flavorful greens).

In Uganda, there were a few more nice discoveries. I met my favorite little Ugandan snack on the last day - roasted g nuts (peanuts covered in flour and spices, then baked). I stopped at a grocery store on my way to the Entebbe airport to buy several packs, as well as some baked plantain chips.

Matoke is a staple in Uganda. Imagine stewed, watery, mashed bananas. Can you tell I didn't like matoke? I tried it several different places and never fell in love, but I could drink the peanut sauce that you drizzle over the matoke for breakfast every day!

In addition to the good food, something else edible caught my eye the first few days in Africa. The milk. Everyone boiled the milk. It is sold in bags, unpastearized so it must be boiled before served. Think whole milk is fattening? When you let this milk sit in your cup or the pot for a few seconds, it gets a cheese-like film. As long as I didn't look at the milk, I was fine. By the end of the trip, I had made peace with the milk and even acquired a taste for it. For now, I'm back to my carton of skim, but I still have g nuts in the cupboard.