Kampala Street Food

6 dishes in Uganda

6 street foods from Kampala, Uganda: Luwombo, Nsenene, Kikomando, Enswa and Binyebwa and more. Each one has its own page with the story behind it and what to look for.

Street foods of Kampala

Royal Stew · Buganda Kingdom Luwombo The banana leaves are first warmed over a fire, which makes them soft enough to fold into a sealed parcel without tearing. Luwombo is a slow-steamed stew of chicken, beef, goat, mushrooms or groundnuts, sealed inside smoked leaves from the Ndiizi banana plant and cooked over gentle heat for hours so the meat… Seasonal Delicacy · Rainy-Season Swarms Nsenene (Fried Grasshoppers) Members of the Baganda clan that takes the grasshopper as its totem traditionally do not eat nsenene, even as the rest of the city feasts on them. Nsenene are long-horned bush crickets that swarm over Kampala in clouds during the rainy seasons around May and November, drawn down in their thousands by night-time light traps. Vendors… Street Staple · Chapati & Beans Kikomando The name is usually traced to 'commando', from the action films popular in Kampala's video halls: a cheap plate that makes you tough enough for… Kikomando chops chapati into ribbons and folds it through a pot of stewed beans, often topped with a fried egg — a filling, cheap plate sold from roadside stalls and taxi-park kiosks… 🐜 Foraged Delicacy · Flying Termites Enswa (Flying Termites) Harvesters often cover a termite mound with a shelter of sticks and leaves and dig a pit beside it, so the emerging termites are funnelled in and… Enswa are winged termites that emerge from anthills after the first heavy rains. They're caught under bright lights at night, then roasted dry or pounded into a paste that's cooked into a… Everyday Sauce · Groundnut Paste Binyebwa Some cooks steam the sauce in a banana-leaf parcel, luwombo-style, instead of simmering it in a pan. Binyebwa is a thick sauce of roasted, ground peanuts simmered with tomato and onion until glossy, ladled generously over steamed matooke or rice at food stalls throughout the city. 🍌 Roadside Snack · Banana Pancakes Kabalagala Despite the name, kabalagala contain no eggs or dairy — they're an entirely plant-based street snack. Kabalagala are small, deep-fried pancakes made from mashed ripe bananas mixed with cassava flour and a touch of local pepper, fried until they puff up like little doughnuts and sold hot in…

More of Uganda

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• Mbale2
• Gulu5
• Mbarara4
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