Ugali

UGALI
 
Ugali is the staple food for Kenyans. It is prepared by boiling water and beating a maize flour into the water until it becomes very thick and pasty. It is a food that I have not been able to become accustomed to. Honestly, I do not know if I could even have the strength and determination to make it in this heat. I have watched a few of the students make it in our kitchen and when finished they have sweat dripping from all over their faces. Once cooked you turn it out of the sufuria (metal cooking pan) onto a large tray and there you have it, a big hard, but pliable pile of gunk!
It is served most everywhere: hotels, restaurants, homes, and for all the schools’ lunches. Most Kenyans love it and actually crave it. Seventy nine percent of the households eat ugali for supper. Most people can only afford to  eat once or twice per day. It is inexpensive and fills you for about 6 hours, which is the main objective of taking (they use “take” instead of eat) food here. It is filled with carbohydrates which provide energy and it fills you up for six hours. I have always been perplexed as to how these people can physically work all day on such a vitamin deficient diet. The maize flour is loaded with an anti-oxidant and every few days they eat it with sikuma wiki (a leafy green vegetable usually blanched then fried), nyama choma (grilled meat e.g. goat or sheep) or sumaki (fish) to gain other nutrients.
Ugali is eaten with your hands by pinching off a small piece and rolling in your in your right hand then pressing your thumb to make a depression in the center to scoop up the stew, fish, or vegetables.
One kilo package of flour costs about 100 Kenyan schillings ($1.00) which would feed a family of 3-4. Most of the residents in my neighborhood I would guess make about 12,000 ($120) schillings per month. By the time they pay rent, taxes, water, electricity, and school fees they are stretched to the limit. They do anything they can to earn a few schillings here or there.
 
Bon Appetit!