Bizarre Foods

Fact.  Uganda has some bizarre foods. 

You can watch Andrew Zimmern navigate the Pearl and some of its strange tastes in these episode clips.

Fact.  I have consumed some bizarre foods myself since being here.

The first being grasshoppers, which in my opinion taste like buttered popcorn.  They are seasonal and tend to make an appearance at t

he onset of dry season.  Street vendors carry them live, without their wings, in plastic bags. 

Hundreds of them, squished together, waiting for the inevitable. 

Once you have you plastic bag of grasshoppers, you take them home and fry them over the fire.  No oil needed.  These guys release their own copious amounts, which seals in the flavor.

And these guys are a hot commodity.  People go crazy, saving 7,000 shillings, 2.80USD, for a tasty bagful. 

Then there is anyere, which primarily exist in the North.  Anyere is rat.  A very large rat, like the size of a full-grown, 10-year old cat, rat.

Now I have yet to taste one but a fellow Volunteer in Kitgum was able to pick one up, which we will consume sometime soon.  The one she has has been cleaned, gutted and smoked.  To prepare it you essentially let it soak in a traditional soup for three hours to take in the flavor.

What I did eat the other night was oyoo.

Also known as small rats. 

The locals will typically ask you which oyoo you are eating. 

“Eh!  The ones from the garden?”

“The ones from the creek?”

Truth be told, I have no idea where ours came from.  All I know is I like seeing these guys dead rather than creeping around town.

I was over at Ellen’s house with her boyfriend, Denish (pronounced Denis) and Mark when she said; “I have a surprise dessert for you!”

I thought maybe it was popcorn.

Mark’s prediction was New York style cheesecake topped with strawberries.

We were both wrong. 

Out came Ellen with oyoo.

Despite our far off predictions, we were excited to try the smoked rat.  Ellen and Denish picked off the meat while giving the teeth, bones and kidneys to the cat.

It tasted very much like smoked trout and immediately brought me back to summer days sitting by the campfire at Pinecrest.  As Ellen and Denish picked clean the remaining rats, Mark and I continued to munch on the white meat while her neighbor Fatima looked at us with disgust.  She was not interested in tasting but got a kick out of the fact that the munus were eating oyoo.

Prior to our dessert, we had guineafowl.  What looks like a large chicken, small turkey, this insect and seed-eating, ground-nesting birds was slaughtered for just hours before we ate it.  It tasted very much like chicken except the meat was black. 

Fun fact.  Apparently guineafowls are native to Africa but are now being domesticated around the world. 

Oh and their feathers... Beautiful!

Still on my bucket list of bizarre foods include crocodile, ostrich, impala, springbok and kudu.  To taste these wild game meats I will have to head to Kampala to The Lawns.  The restaurant farm raises its game meat and does not hunt from the parks, which unfortunately is done throughout the country.

I have a sneaking suspicion they will all taste like chicken…