The food in Rwanda is delicious and nutritious. I eat meals with my host family, and I love it. All meals include a serving of rice and some mix of incredibly tasty beans, tomato and vegetable sauce, spinach-like boiled greens, as well as some variation of boiled or fried potato/cassava/plantains. At restaurants you can order delicious brochettes that come with beef and a really tasty flavoring that I haven’t quite figure out yet… but it tastes great.
Rwanda also produces high-end tea and coffee, so I feel like I’m in paradise. Did I mention I buy 3 avocados for 20¢? I can also buy 5 passion fruits for the same price. Japanese plums, pineapples, papaya, and mangos are also available. Where am I?!
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| Also eating corn on the cob here in Rwanda! |
My favorite traditional Rwandan food so far is umugali. The English translation is “cassava bread”, which seems pretty accurate. You cook the cassava in water and stir it until it has the consistency of pizza dough. You eat it by picking off little pieces (or big pieces, if you’re Rwandan) with your fingers and dipping it into a tomato/meat sauce. Deeeelicious.
There is one serious problem with food here: I have yet to find donuts. I asked my language instructor about it, he pointed me to a lightly friend cake desert…. It’s really weak, more baked than fried. Fried foods are not really part of the culture; in fact the government outlawed street food because it’s unsanitary. This might become a serious problem for me.
don't worry, I will send you some doughnuts. i ate buñuelos in valencia with the family and of course did a little cheers to you because every time i eat fried dough i think of you
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