LBA: Life in Uganda - Food and Drink

Restaurant Owner
The term ‘Restaurant Owner’ is loosely applied to include smaller food joint and take away owners, which are more common than restaurants in Manafwa. The variety of food in these restaurants can be limited with most places serving very similar food, such as posho, matooke, chappati, rice, beans, meat and black tea. In a moderate trading centre, you will find around four restaurants on average.

A restaurant owner may receive between 15-30 customers a day and can make 200/= (£0.08) profit per plate of food and 50/= (£0.02) profit per cup of black tea (sold at 100/=). Apart from food and charcoal costs, a restaurant owner will also need set-up capital of around 25-40,000 (£10-16) for purchasing a few tables, chairs or benches, plates, cutlery, pans, a sigiri (stove) as well as rent if they do not own the room.

This means the total profit a day could be between 1,500 and 4,000/= (£0.60-£1.60) depending on the number of customers and the price of foods in the market (which are dependant on seasons).

Chapatti Maker
Chapatti making is one business you will never find missing in Manafwa Trading Centres. Chappatis are round, flat snacks (often compared to a cross between a pancake and a naan bread) made out of wheat flour mixed with salt, water and at times baking powder and onions. It is cooked on a small, flat, round, hot plate, heated by charcoal. People can eat them at any time of the day – with tea for breakfast or as part of a main meal.

Some chapatti makers work from someone else’s restaurant, whilst others rent space on a verandah for approximately 3-5,000/= (£1.20-£2) a month. Chapatti makers also need a table, charcoal stove (sigiri), charcoal, cooking oil, rolling pin, 2 wide plates, flour, a spoon and a cup.

A chapatti maker buys about 2-3 packets of wheat flour at 3,200/= (£1.30) per bag, with each packet making about 16 chapatti. He sells each chapatti at 300/= (£0.12) and gets approximately 1,000/= (£0.40) profit from each packet of flour. This is because he has to pay for cooking oil, and charcoal or fire wood. On a normal day, a chappati maker can earn a profit of approximately 3,000/= (£1.20) a day.

On rainy days, sales go up, as well as on market days and public holidays when profits can reach over 5,000/= (£2). However, during school holidays, and on the usual sunny days, profits may go down to as low as 1,000/= a day (£0.40).

Malwa Joint Owner
Malwa is a local homemade brew. The selling of Malwa is one of the most vibrant activities in Manafwa District. Neighbouring districts, such as Tororo use dry cassava and millet to make Malwa, but in Manafwa, there are several types of Malwa. Firstly, there is Malwa, made from maize and millet, which is put in a ditch (yes, a ditch!) to ferment. A second type of homebrew, called Inguuli or Waragi is made using molasses (a by-product from the sugar making process) mixed with Malwa (the fermented maize and millet). This is then poured into large 200 litre drums and distilled for up to a week. A third type, called Mwenge Bigere (literally translated as ‘alcohol made from feet’) is made from sweet bananas which are put into a trough where people stomp on them in their bare feet before leaving them in the trough for two days.

A Malwa joint owner needs to either own or rent a place from where they can sell the alcohol. If they are renting, it usually costs approximately 10,000/= (£4) a month to rent. Either way they will need to construct a small banda or hut from where to sell their Malwa. Malwa is normally enjoyed whilst sitting on low chairs or stools in a circle around a communal pot of Malwa. Each partaker has their own straw, which can be 2 metres long, reaching from their reclined position to the pot, with up to 15 people drinking from the same pot. The communal drinking is popularly referred to as ‘telephoning’ because of the long straws. A proud Malwa drinker will often be heard deriding bottled beer as ‘wireless’ and not have as much fun as his ‘landline’ friends. It is common to eat roasted pork whilst drinking Malwa, and it is rare for anyone to walk away from the Malwa joint in a straight line.

Some Malwa sellers make their own Malwa, whilst others buy it ready made. On average, a Malwa seller will make or buy approximately 4 jerrycans, each of 20 litres, a day. These are sold to Malwa drinkers in kasuku, smaller tins of 3 litres, at approximately 1,200/= (£0.60). Nakhesi Iona is a Malwa seller in Butiru. On a good day she can have up to 40 customers and on a poor day, she has only 20 customers. She makes a profit of around 3,000/= (£1.20) per 20 litre jerrycan which she sells.

In the Bagisu culture, Malwa is commonly used in ceremonies, for example in circumcision ceremonies, and as dowry in marriage ceremonies, as well as just generally uniting people to come together. It is reported to also have negative influences, such as leading to accidents, poverty (through extravagant drinkers), promiscuity (encouraging the spread of HIV/AIDS), as well as fuelling rape and other sexual assaults, and harbouring poor hygiene.

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