When I first went to Uganda and ate Ugandan food in the restaurant of the hotel I was staying in, I was definitely confused. The Africans working there told me that the pasta, rice, pumpkins or cassava is free but the sauce cost money.
I looked at the food trays and was thinking to myself…I don’t see any sauce, what are they talking about?
To make things even more confusing, I looked at the menu and see a bunch of prices. Since most of these local African eateries are self-serve, it doesn’t specify what quantity of food would cost X amount of money.
Finally, after talking to the Ugandan people, I finally understood how it works!
Ugandan food ordering method
So how does ordering Uganda food work?
Here are some key things to know:
- You’re allowed as many carbs as you want. When we were in Uganda, our driver from gorilla trekking loaded his plate with only carbs and he barely paid anything. He paid like 6,000 Ugandan shillings which is like $2.15 CAD for a massive plate of food.
- Sauce means meat. So when they tell you that the sauce cost 8,000 Ugandan shillings, they mean you can have FOUR pieces of meat. It’s quite specific and the locals seems to understand this clearly. However, the size of the meat doesn’t matter so you should get the four biggest pieces because you’re paying the same regardless of the size.
- The definition of “buffet” also varies per restaurant. From the one we went to, “buffet” doesn’t mean you can eat as many food as you want. It means you can pile your plate with as much meat as you want so you’re not limited to four pieces of meat.
How does Ugandan food taste like?
The food taste pretty damn good if I say so myself! I love their breakfast street food called “Rolex”. And their cafeteria style food are truly delicious. The meat are so tender, definitely peel off the bone as if they were slow cooked for several hours.
The sauce and spices also tasted delicious. I’m not really descriptive because I devoured the food as if I was in a trance because they were that delicious. I honestly wished we had Ugandan restaurants here in Canada so I can eat those cuisines I had while I was travelling in Uganda.
Conclusion
When you do travel to Uganda, you now know how ordering food in Uganda works!
I highly recommend trying the goat and beef because in my opinion, they are the highlights. The carbs are also good but they’ll probably make you fat if you eat too much. So unless you just finished going gorilla tracking, you might want to limit your carbs intake.
Enjoy eating Ugandan food! They are truly very delicious!
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