Food: One of The Most Popular Foods In Africa

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One of The Most Popular Foods In Africa
Friday, January 05, 2007

Ugali is among the most popular food not only in Kenya but the entire east African region where the cake-like cuisine is enjoyed frequently because it is cheap and easy to prepare and rather tasty in its’ own way.

The ingredients includes water, maize floor and salt and is usually served with beef stew
or with vegetables including cabbage, spinach or kale. It can even be eaten with chicken cooked in all sorts of manner.

To begin with, water is boiled and the flour is added with salt and stirred for about ten minutes until the solution turns viscous before its turned over several times until it turns solid.

When it assumes a completely solid structure it is removed and left to cool prior to being served with the above mentioned foods, which depends on the economic status of those preparing it.

In the east African states, the rich usually consume it with beef since the commodity is expensive as a kilo of beef meat goes for about three dollars which is expensive considering that majority of people in the three states survive on less than a dollar a day.

Due to poverty levels in Africa, majority of the citizens usually eat the ugali with kale which is the cheapest and most widely available vegetable but the combination is also tasty as long as it is well prepared.
Kale is boiled for about five minutes and the water is drained before its fried with onions and tomatoes for five minutes and then served along with red chilies and other locally available spices.

The meal is wholesome and solid to the extent that if one partakes too much of it he is bound to feel sleepy and immobilized as the effect is as if you have consumed cement.
Ugali is consumed by almost all communities living in the region with those close to the lake preferring to take it with fried fish which makes it a most nutritious combination that takes time to be digested and if taken in the morning, lunch is unnecessary as you will be still full at 2 pm.

However, ugali is considered to be the poor mans diet as maize is considered to be the cheapest food available but the rich also consume it though in relatively small doses and occasionally.

Ugali on its own when eaten will be tasteless but there are those who will partake it that way not by choice but because they cannot afford anything else.Left overs can be consumed with tea the following morning and it is popular with school going children as it will keep them full for the better part of the day.

Ugali does not have to be made from maize meal alone as millet and sorghum floor can also do the trick and is infact considered to be tastier and more nutritious than maize meal.

It is not known who first prepared this staple diet that has made the three east African countries dependent on maize for decades but the Kenyans insist that it was their discovery and Uganda and Tanzania simply copied their invention.

During festive seasons like Christmas ugali is consumed by almost all as also the high and the mighty feel it’s the best combination to go with roasted beef and goat meat and is washed down with several mugs of beer or soft drinks for the teetotalers.

Ugali has also become popular with tourists who visit Kenya and expatriates working there and some are known to like it so much that they have employed local cooks to prepare it for them or go out of their way to look for local eateries which prepare the dish to their liking.

These foreigners are known to enjoy the local dish served with roasted or fried meat but don’t eat it frequently due to the highly nutritious value of the combination which can cause serious health problems like gout and obesity if consumed too often.

A one time American ambassador to Kenya, the late Smith Hempstone was popularly known as the “nyama choma ambassador” meaning roasted meat ambassador due to his frequent escapades to local eateries to partake roasted meat and ugali with local opposition leaders who were his good friends.

Surprisingly, the top diplomat preferred to enjoy his meal in the tough neighbourhood of Eastlands where crime was and is still rampant but he found the taste of ugali in the area irresistible.

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