Gulu Dining

            I am quite sure all my fellow GSSAP members can vouch for me when I say that I love food.  It has almost become a formal tradition that everyone passes me their leftovers after each meal to finish off, an undertaking I am more than happy to complete.  The food in Uganda is absolutely wonderful.  Every meal here is an experience and you never know for certain what surprises await you.  Just by enjoying the local cuisine, we get to see a wonderful, exciting part of Gulu culture. 

            Since it occurs before most meals, I think I should talk about it first.  The wait time.  Food can take a very long to come.  Our first dinner in Gulu was at a Muzungu (white-person) hot-spot, Sankofa.  It took approximately 2 hours for all the food to come.  While everywhere does not take this long, I normally just assume my food will take at least an hour.  It is not just the food that is slow-paced: no one here in Gulu ever seems to be in a rush anywhere.  Several days ago, Dr. Hackett pointed out how we walk so much faster than all the locals and how we were going to wear ourselves in the heat.  Time is just so much more flexible.  My first day of interning at ARLPI (Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative), the transportation was 20 minutes late.  The next day it was 5 minutes early.  It just goes to show how people have adapted to dealing with uncertainty in daily life.  Roads might be impassable, vehicles might break down, it might start to rain (when it rains here it pours!), or who-knows-what could happen; however, the people just deal with the issue and life keeps moving along.

Don’t let that long wait time scare you away from Ugandan dining, though.  Just last week I made a remarkable discovery: the smaller, local bar/hotel/restaurants are absolutely amazing!  At Boma’s restaurant (Boma is a big, super-swanky hotel), a bowl of curry with rice costs about 20,000 shillings.  At Amigo’s (currently my favorite my place to eat, and no, it’s not Mexican food), I can get a giant plate of rice, bowl of beans, and chicken stew for 5000 shillings (about 2 dollars.)  Not only is the food cheap, it is really delicious.  But wait, there’s more!  With a smaller menu, the food can be cooked beforehand and it comes in under 5 minutes.  The first time this happened to me I was in shock but loving every second of it.  And I can’t leave out interacting with the locals.  One of my favorite events this entire trip was talking with a very chatty man enjoying a local drink.  He talked about his work, his family in Gulu and his brother sitting in the seat next to him.  The conversation ended with him getting a serious expression on his face and telling me “enjoy Uganda, my brother.”  Well, I’m doing my best and can’t wait to see what else Uganda holds for me in the coming weeks.