Lugbara cuisine facts for kids

Posho and kebeji

Lugbara cuisine is the traditional food of the Lugbara people. They live in northwestern Uganda and northeastern DR Congo. Their meals include vegetables, meats like goat and cow, and even insects! In the Lugbara language, food is called nyaka.

The main food is enya(sa), made from cassava flour. Sometimes, it's mixed with millet or sorghum, similar to posho or ugali. This staple food is often eaten with different kinds of soups. People also enjoy rice, yams, potatoes, and matoke (steamed or mashed bananas). You can find these tasty Lugbara dishes in restaurants in West Nile, Ariwara Town in DR Congo, and even in Kampala, Uganda's capital. Many homes and cafeterias also serve these traditional meals.

Drinks

Millet and Potato Porridge

Anya i'di is a millet porridge. Sometimes, it's mixed with groundnut paste (ala) or simsim paste (anyu). Maaku i'di is a potato porridge, made from fresh or dried mashed potatoes.

Milk and Fruit Juices

Lesu is the Lugbara word for milk. People also make fresh fruit juices. For example, young (raw) maize is pounded, and its juice is squeezed out and boiled to drink. Mengu i'di is mango juice. To make it, mangoes are cooked, then cooled. The juice is squeezed out and mixed with sugar.

Traditional Tea

Ebe'de/ Ibe'de is tea without sugar. The name comes from how people scoop tea for themselves at gatherings. It's like a "self-service" tea. People also add Kuruku chai (lemon grass) to their tea. It's washed and boiled with the tea for extra flavor.

Traditional Drinks

Kwete or kpete is a traditional Lugbara drink. It's made from sorghum that has been fermented using aku fi (yeast). This drink is often enjoyed after meals. Okalitua is another very sour drink made from cassava.

Dishes and Soups

Antcakes: Alanda and Ombangulu

Alanda or Amboroko is a special antcake made from small white ants. People usually trap these ants during the day. They dig a hole in hard ground and build a mud dome over it. The ants gather in the mud. People sing and beat drums to encourage the ants to come out. The ants are then scooped up and pounded. Sometimes, they are boiled in leaves and dried.

Ombangulu is another type of antcake, sometimes called "Lugbara pizza". It's made from onya (white ants) trapped at night after rain. People use a light source, like an oil lamp, to attract the ants to a hole. After collecting them, the ants are steamed and dried. The wings are removed, and the ants are cooked with salt. Ombangulu is made by pounding the wingless ants, adding salt, and cooking them in leaves, like banana plant leaves.

Maize and Bean Mix: Anyoya

Anyoya is a delicious breakfast dish of boiled dry maize and beans. It's often prepared at night to be eaten in the morning. Some people in Arua Town call it "mix" and add fried onions. Angarawa or Angaraba is skinless beans, lightly fried or cooked, mixed with groundnut paste.

Birds: Aria

The Lugbara people eat many kinds of birds. Besides chicken, guineafowls, ducks (mbata), and turkeys (kulu kulu), they also hunt wild birds. These include pigeons (amamu), weaverbirds, and sparrows. They use a Y-shaped sling called abudira.

Au gbe (Chicken eggs)

Chicken Eggs: Au Gbe

Au gbe are chicken eggs. They are boiled or fried. Eggs can be added to different sauces, or prepared with groundnut paste, onions, and tomatoes.

Cassava Leaves: Banda Bi

Banda bi are cassava leaves. This dish can be mixed with i'bi (fish), ngenjia (small silver fish), or eza (minced meat).

Mushrooms: Drika

Maru are large white mushrooms that grow near anthills. Other mushrooms might grow where cooked cereals are left.

Fish: E'bi or I'bi

Angara, ngenjia, and tilapia are common types of fish eaten by the Lugbara. Nzikinziki is a special dish from the Madi people, made from mashed fish cooked in groundnut paste.

Kabilo eza (Mutton)

Meat: Eza

Eza means meat. Softer parts of animals, like liver and hump, are often given to older people. Putuku (also called Mulokoni) is the leg of a cow and is a popular dish. In Vurra, chicken (au) cooked with pumpkin (ago) is a special meal. Many Lugbara people also enjoy ope (Guineafowl). Pork is also very popular today, and people now raise more pigs than before. In Terego, edible rats called omba omba are hunted, dried, and cooked. Rabbits and game meat are also eaten.

Offals: Fi

Fi is a dish made from intestines. It's also known as baka (rope) by some.

Osubi (Bean leaves)

Vegetables and Greens: Iribi

Iribi refers to vegetables or greens. Some examples include osubi (bean leaves), agobi (pumpkin leaves), malakwang (very popular in northern Uganda), biringanya (eggplant), nyanya (tomatoes), banda bi (cassava leaves), pala bi (jute leaves), bamia (okra), murukulu (okra with groundnut stew), nakati, orukwa (a type of dodo greens), French beans, sukuma wiki, and kebeji (cabbages).

Premature Bananas and Meat: Kelo

Kelo is a dish made from premature bananas, lamb, or calf meat. It's similar to a dish Indians make from premature maize.

Bean Sauces: Kila Kila and Operete

Kila kila is a type of sauce made from beans with their skin on, peas, mundrokole (a type of leaf vegetable), and groundnut paste (ala). Operete (Ajira) is made from beans with the skin removed, sometimes mixed with groundnut paste or mundrokole.

Dried Fruit Skin: O'bokoa

O'bokoa is made from the dried skin of a certain round, usually yellow, fruit. It's cooked and eaten as a sauce. Some people say it tastes like meat. O'boko means "cover" or "shell" in Lugbara.

Peas and Paste Sauce: Oca Oca

Oca oca, also known as ocakuca, is a sauce made with peas and paste.

Seasoning and Appetizers

Dania (Coriander leaves)

Coriander: Dania

Coriander is called dania in Lugbara. Its small leaves are cooked with food to add flavor. You can also chop them finely and add them raw when the food is ready.

Traditional Salt Substitutes: Ofuta and Aitipa

Ofuta (or ofutaku) is made by burning dried bean pods or banana peelings. The ash is mixed with water and then sieved to create a brown liquid. This liquid is used to cook greens like osubi and helps them keep their green color. Aitipa is another traditional ingredient made from specific salty plants. Women collect these leaves, dry them in the sun, and then burn them. Magadi, a type of salt from places like Lake Albert, can also be used.

Spices: Pili Pili

Garlic, red or green pepper, and chillies like muni are added to food to make it spicy.

Cooking Styles

There are two main ways to cook greens: boiling and frying. Frying helps the leaves keep their juicy taste. To fry greens, wash them, then quickly fry them in oil flavored with onions and green pepper. You can also add tomatoes, carrots, and boiled eggs. It's best not to add more water, and only add salt after the greens have shrunk.

If greens are boiled, traditional ingredients like ofutaku, magadi, or a'itipa can be added early to keep their green color. Sweeteners like avocado, kamura odu (edible oil from a tree's bark), and sesame oil are often added at the table. Groundnut or simsim paste (ala/ anyu) is also a popular sweetener. Sometimes, chicken is marinated in eggs before frying to make it extra tasty.

Snacks

Funyo (Groundnuts)

Roasted Seeds: Akarafi

Akarafi includes groundnuts, soya seeds, jackfruit seeds, and pumpkin seeds. These are roasted and enjoyed, often with tea.

Insects: Ese, Ise, Onya, Ozi

Ese or Ise are grasshoppers that appear seasonally, usually around April and November. Ombi (locusts) can be very destructive, but some types are fried and eaten. This can also help control pests. Fried white ants (Onya) are also eaten as snacks. Ozi are formica wood ants found near anthills. When cooked, they have a crunchy taste.

Tubers: Likinya and Lumboo

Likinya is a brown-skinned tuber that grows as a climbing plant. It tastes like yam. Lumboo was a very sweet, long underground tuber, but it is now extinct. It was eaten long ago before other crops like sweet potatoes became more common.

Maize Bread: Maracha Bread (Mukati)

Maracha bread or Mukati is a delicious snack made entirely from maize. It's often eaten with tea. The maize grains are ground on a flat stone or in a mortar. Then, the ground maize is tied in a leaf, like a banana plant leaf, and boiled. This creates a block or oval shape. Once ready, it's enjoyed with tea or coffee. There's a Lugbara saying: Kaka ni ka 'ba sikokori ni indi (Maize ripens for people without teeth also), meaning maize is for everyone.

Dried Sweet Potatoes/Cassava: Mutere

Mutere is made when sweet potatoes or cassava are cut into small pieces and dried in the sun for several days. Later, they are boiled or prepared in other ways. This method helps preserve their sweetness.

Meal Times

Traditional Lugbara meal times include:

• O'biti (Morning): 7–8 AM
• Anya i'di (Mid-morning snack): 10–11 AM
• Nyaka itua (Lunch): 12–2 PM
• Asileri ibe'de (Dinner): 8–9 PM