An agrarian dream come true

I am going to briefly describe the Ugandan food system, something many of you know I am quite annoying about in the states. First let me begin by saying, you get what you wish for and sometimes you don’t expect what you find. So in Uganda, everyone farms. I mean everyone. It is very hard to find a family or even an organization that does not have a personal garden that is used to provide the main sustenance for the family and maybe some income. There are trees and grass, fruits and vegetables everywhere. The cows, chickens, turkeys, and goats roam totally free and graze on the grass. Since land is not as personal as in America, they can really travel around, usually with a small boy watching over them with a stick. Because most of them are unaffordable, most people do not use pesticides or fertilizer. Although compost is not widely used, it is pretty common and the people in the agriculture business are heavily promoting it. Therefore, all the food I eat is totally natural, organic, and local. I am in heaven! The main crops are maize, cassava, millet, wheat, beans, g-nuts (peanuts), bananas, and matoke (sort of a bland plantain.) Despite the prevalence of animals, meat is still expensive and not a part of everyday meals. You can also find fresh water fish and a mix of green vegetables (tomatoes, onions, carrots, potatoes, eggplant, garlic, and greens.) Biggest letdown—no broccoli.

The downsides of all this lie in the unfortunate lack of trash/waste management and lack of knowledge on preparing balanced meals. So trash here is just piled high up and then burned. Not going into how harmful burning paper and plastic is for humans, the trash often leaves the pits and finds its way onto the grass where the animals graze. I am sure it is not appetizing for them, but the occasional bits probably enter their stomachs. Also, pit latrines are rarely covered so disease and germs amongst animals and vegetables is pretty common. Also, trying to find a way to grow during the dry seasons is hard and many people lose a lot of money for those parts of the year. Also, climate change is seriously affecting life here. They used to have very regular seasons and knew exactly what week to plant and when to harvest. Now, each year is different and the rains come sporadically, making it hard to know when to do what. Back to the meals, most here consist of 80% starch in the form of rice or posho (mix of flour from maize and cassava that is pounded to this moist and hot bread-like food) and some beans or greens. It is not rare for there to be no greens and apart from the beans, no protein. Therefore, despite having an amazing agriculture nutrition and health is fairly poor. Not as poor as some of the drier African countries, but not where is should be. Many have also said (by many I mean Ugandans) that because growing food is so easy here due to extremely fertile soil, that is why people are lazy and expect everything to come so easy. Now I personally have met some very lazy Ugandans, but I also know a great deal more hard working ones. Time just moves at a different pace here and it is up to the citizens to decide if they want that to change.

So for now I am staying a vegetarian because I can get my protein (I eat a lot of peanut butter), but I will eat the occasional fish and chicken because they are treated so humanely and naturally. Needless to say, this is one part of Uganda that I definitely love and will miss when I am home.