What is ugali?
There are so many culinary secrets and delights in African cuisine that are still waiting for a general discovery. In fact, it could be said that African cuisine is the last frontier of world cuisine.
One such open culinary secret is Ugali.
Honestly, seriously, there’s no other word for it. If it says cornmeal bread or millet bread, it doesn’t describe this dish well.
It is probably the most widespread dish in Africa. There are variations of it all over Africa.
In West Africa, a variation of this dish is called foo-foo. Foo-foo is made of cooked yam, cocoyam or cassava, mashed into a puree and served with various sauces such as fish, meat or vegetables.
In Kenya, ugali is made from cornmeal. The cornmeal is added to the boiling water and mixed until smooth, with varying degrees of stiffness. Ugali is served with vegetables, fish, meat, fermented milk or legumes and eaten with the fingers. Ugali is also known as chasm along the Kenyan coast.
In Uganda, ugali is made from corn (then called posho), millet or sorghum flour (then called kuon kal or kalo), or cassava flour.
In southern Africa, it is known as pap.
Many men, even if they have a choice between rice, cooking plantain or wheat bread, prefer Ugali as they say it leaves them full longer.
Consequently, many eateries in Africa serve chapati (a fried wheat flour flatbread), rice or mashed plantain for cooking along with Ugali.
Ugali, or its variations, is always eaten with the fingers. There is a complex etiquette and art in this, which must be learned from childhood. The fingers are not used to push food into the mouth, but to delicately carry it, even a thin sauce, to the mouth without leaving traces.
In Uganda, for example, only the tops of the fingers must be involved when eating and there must be no evidence of food afterwards. One should be able to walk away after a meal without anyone noticing.
A common and special ritual as part of hospitality in many parts of Africa is to bring guests warm water to the table before and after the meal to wash their hands. Even when guests are given the chance to wash their hands in the sink, this ritual persists, probably because there is something very generous about serving a guest in this way.
Making a good Ugali, or a variation of it, has always been a litmus test for women across Africa. Ugali done right requires skill and a lot of practice to make. Well-done ugali should be smooth and lump-free, without burning. Various levels of stiffness are desirable in various communities.
The Kalenjin of western Kenya, for example, prefer a softer Ugali to eat with their Murzik, while the Luo of western Kenya prefer a stiffer Ugali to eat with fish or vegetables.
Among the people of northern Uganda, the test for a well-done kuon kal (ugali made from millet flour) is that if you throw a piece against the walls of a hut, it won’t stick, just as the Italians say al dente spaghetti doesn’t stick to the wall!
Africans have been known to complain about their ugali, especially when they can’t afford anything else like chapati or cooked plantain. Ugali is, after all, a cheap and hearty dish. In Uganda, for example, it is a staple in boarding schools and correctional institutions.
Yet Africans themselves have been known to clamor for Ugali even when they can afford better.
ugali. The great silent common cultural denominator throughout Africa.
