Last week, we ate like people in Haiti. I didn’t do much planning for that one, so we basically ate rice, rice and beans or black bean patties and corn cakes… all week. Not so imaginative, but it was really compelling. Here we are given such variety with foods and we forget how fortunate we really are. Eating the same staples day after day really gets to you…

This week, we will be learning about Uganda.

From Wikipedia:

[Uganda]

is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the “Pearl of Africa”. It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by Tanzania. The southern part of the country includes a substantial portion of Lake Victoria, which is also shared by Kenya and Tanzania.

 For decades, Uganda’s economy suffered from devastating economic policies and instability, leaving Uganda as one of the world’s poorest countries. The country has commenced economic reforms and growth has been robust. In 2008, Uganda recorded 7% growth despite the global downturn and regional instability.

Uganda is one of the poorest nations in the world, with 37.7 per cent of its population living below the international poverty line of US$1.25 per day in 2009. Despite making enormous progress in reducing the countrywide poverty incidence from 56 per cent of the population in 1992 to 31 per cent in 2005, poverty remains deep-rooted in the country’s rural areas, which are home to more than 85 per cent of Ugandans. Among these poor, women are the poorest.

According to the census of 2002, Christians made up about 84% of Uganda’s population. The Roman Catholic Church has the largest number of adherents (41.9%), followed by theAnglican Church of Uganda (35.9%). Evangelical and Pentecostal churches claim the rest of the Christian population. The next most reported religion of Uganda is Islam, with Muslims representing 12% of the population.

Ugandan cuisine consists of traditional cooking with English, Arab, Asian and especially Indian influences. Main dishes are usually centered on a sauce or stew of groundnuts, beans or meat.

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