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welcome tomy bolg 

 I will attempt to spend $100 entirely on street food here in the country of Uganda.
Uganda is part of the East African community right next door to Kenya and Tanzania. This country is famous for gorilla trekking, raw, unfiltered adventure, and of course, the food.
Food here is rich, heavy. This is the hangover cure right here. I can see that. And built to fill you up. I can't believe people start their day with this. It's so much food. But that's okay because we are not here for balance.
Today is about pushing the limits of my stomach and my wallet. I'm on a mission to see just how far $100 will get me here in the capital city of Kala. So, let's move. So, right now we are in 

Kala's biggest market. Actually, it's the biggest market you'll find here in Uganda. It's called Aino Market. And this place in the morning is crazy busy.
So, think of it like a department store.
Right now, we are in the clothing department, but we are heading to where they have all the food. Let's go. How are you? How you doing, man? How well?
I'm great. I'm looking for food. It's got to save my life. All right. Take care, buddy.
[Music] So, right here, you can see this is the shoe market. But if you look just beyond it over here, that is the meat market right there. Everything in one place.
Very convenient.
Already, after 2 seconds, I found something very interesting. We've just come to a nut grinding station right here. My man has huge containers of ground nuts. over here. It looks like a giant vat of Jiffy peanut butter. So, he takes all these nuts. He puts it in different containers. And these are going to be sold just like this for people to make with a stew or whatever they're cooking for the day. Very cool.
It smells amazing. I just want to put my face in there.
Screw a cold punch. Peanut butter punch.
So, we have just entered kind of a peanut factory or a peanut processing area. I had no idea peanuts were so prevalent in Uganda. Right behind me, this guy has a giant machine. It looks like it's both cooking the peanuts and grinding them at the same time. Oh, okay.
I don't know what happened, but I've been put to work. So, all these peanuts.
Okay, come over here. Right here again, we have the final product. It's not just peanuts. Sometimes they're actually also mixing in sesame seeds, too. It's so thick and viscous. You have never smelled a place that smells like this.
Okay, next thing. Oh.
I'm helping, I think. Good. Oh, no.
Enough. Enough.
All right, folks. We have our first breakfast food right here. Our chef is Robert, and he is going to take it away.
This is an iconic street food here of Uganda known as Rolex. He's got his rolling pin here. The dough is just made from wheat, flour, water, and a little bit of salt. He rolls it and then he has a piece of cardboard just absolutely soaked with oil. That's what he uses to keep reapplying small amounts of oil.
Then he puts on a huge amount of oil. He gives it a little bit of a flip and he puts on three more layers. Now, this is called a chapati. With our chapati complete, it's time to get into the egg portion of this dish. He cracks an egg into a cup and then another egg. Next, some chopped green peppers go into the cup. Then, he dices up a shallot. From here, he grabs some cabbage. Then, a little bit of chili powder. From here, he beats his eggs. He hits it with a little bit of oily cardboard. Oh wow, that's a lot of oil. All right, here we go. He puts it on the flat top. So this is kind of like a Ugandan omelette. He gives it a little bit of a flip. And there we can see golden brown egg on the one side. From here, he takes a chapati.
He puts that over the egg. And then he's going to give that a whole thing a flip.
I mean, remove it completely. So the next step, he's going to cut some fresh tomato slices on top. Next, he hits the tomatoes with a little bit of salt. And from here, it is time to finally roll those eggs. He tucks in the extra egg that was sticking out. He gives it a little bit of a cut down the center. So, that is how you make the Ugandan Rolex.
Robert, thank you, sir. Wait, I know how to say thank you. Hold on. Give me one second. Way.
Okay. All right, folks. This right here is quite literally our first taste of Uganda, and we're going to talk about it in a moment. But first, I want to let you know that later in this video, I'm going to be joined by one of the most iconic news anchors of Uganda. You may remember him from clips such as this one. Why are you gay?
Who says I'm gay?
You are gay. His name is Simon. And after that clip, he absolutely blew up.
He became a meme. And I'm going to meet the meme later today. And later, we'll break some bread together. But first, the Rolex. And I was trying to figure out why do they call it Rolex? Well, it's because it sounds like roll eggs cuz that's what this is. And over time, it just came to be known as Rolex.
Cheers.
That is good. A lot of tomato. Beyond that, the oil very present. It tastes like fried bread. It tastes like fried eggs. Everything that's fried and delicious.
We got salt. We got that chili powder, the onions, the green peppers. It's basically an omelette on a flat piece of fried bread. It is a convenient way to eat your breakfast in the morning. But remember, this is a $100 challenge. Our first food, $110, so we are far off, but surprisingly, there are some very expensive foods that we're going to be trying in this market soon. Before we get to those, let's head to our next location. I found another gentleman walking throughout the market. He walks around with these and he sells them door to door, stall to stall. And whoever wants them can buy that. What are they?
It looks to be black olives. I assume it's going to have a pit inside. I will chew with caution. Cheers.
Oh, but this one.
It's like only pit. First of all, tastes nothing like an olive. It actually feels like avocado with a grape skin.
Uganda where the Rolex is not a Rolex and olive is not an olive. It's very unique. This is 5,000 in the local currency. In USD, it is $1.40. More expensive than our Rolex. Is that the normal price? The normal price. I like when people's voice goes real high like that. I just want people to see what happens when you split it open. It is green on the inside. It feels like avocado, but it has this really brittle, almost like a grape skin, but not sweet at all.
Meanwhile, there's just a huge seed.
It's a kind of a mild taste. It tastes like creamy avocado. What's not to like?
And evidently the seed. You just spit them out.
That's what he's been doing. I am going to keep this and I'm off to my next food. Thank you. Boom. We have come to the lunch cooking area. It is about 10:30 right now and this whole market is just full of smoke and pots and stews.
Everything getting ready for the lunch rush which will happen in an hour or two. Behind me.
Oh, and her friend. Nice to meet you.
This is her whole kitchen right here.
And right now she is preparing a chicken stew. Right here we have kind of the stew or gravy that is full of tomatoes, eggplant, onions, and green peppers. And she uses this piece of wood, like a wood spatula to break up all the vegetables.
And soon that will join this right here.
This is a pot full of chicken drumsticks and thighs. While we're waiting for that tomato stew, I want to show you something else. Right here, they are grilling what looks to be lamb or goat.
But take a look at that grill. This is the outside of a fan being repurposed as a grill. Tger, eat your heart out. You got nothing on the outside of a fan. The time has come. Slowly the stew is put in with the chicken. After adding a little bit of stew, she gives it a bit of a mix. Some of the stew makes its way into here with some of these green peas. And all of that gets a nice mix. So, the chicken stew is going to need another couple of hours to cook. But when it's done, we're going to try it out.
I broke into another kitchen. Hello, ma'am.
[Laughter] Uncomfortable after. What's your name?
This is like a breakfast spot. that's kind of winding down for the day cuz she's almost sold out. She has about seven different pots of food, three different carbohydrates, and various meats. First of all, right here, green banana. Yes, she hates me so much. Right here, we have a potato stew right here, liver right here, beans right here, a peanut stew right here, beef, and then under here, we have some rice. Sarah is going to make a nice plate for me right now. Sarah, can I have a one plate, please?
Uh, okay. Please. She wants one green banana, one potato. Then she comes over here. She hits it with a little bit of rice. Then we're at the beef stew station. She gives me some nice beef cubes. Then wets my rice with a beef broth. After that, a scoop of peanut stew. From there, some beans join the chat. And finally, a bit of a cabbage salad on the side. It looks amazing.
Sarah, thank you so much. I will leave.
I promise to never come back. All right.
Bye-bye. All right, folks. Our third food of the day is called KGO. Now, KGO means a mixture of foods together. And that is exactly what we have here. It's so much food. Everything you see on this plate right here is $1.40, right? That's how much I paid for those black olives. Pretty sure the black olives should be a little bit cheaper than that. All right, let's talk about what's on the plate. Right here, we have kind of a peanut stew that's been draped over the rice. It looks gorgeous.
M. That's good. It's less peanuty than I expected.
Savory. It's like a nice thick delicious gravy.
Now, I do believe one of the ways they're able to keep this so cheap is with the lack of meat. This is the only real meat right here. This is the beef from the beef stew. It's been boiling so long, it looks like all the fat has boiled out of it. Let's give it a shot.
[Music] Still good. It still has a nice texture and a good flavor. It's just a little bit more chewy. Beyond that, something that I've seen a lot here already are the beans. Here, I'm going to mix the beans with the banana. Oh, take a look at that.
[Applause] M. What a combination. Does it taste like a banana? No. It's a very starchy banana. It's more like a potato than an actual banana. Beyond that, the beans.
The beans are starchy. They're a little sweet and they're a good partner for that banana. I'm very impressed so far.
This is food that takes skill, love, time from early morning until lunchtime so people like me can enjoy it in a few minutes. That woman, she's put all of her heart into this dish. She's got nothing left to give me. She cracked a smile at me and almost took her out. It was almost too much. So, this is our most substantial breakfast of the day.
Next, we're moving on to lunch as I invite my friend to join me. Simon, put her there. Oh, good to see you, Sony.
Thank you for joining me. I'm excited to have you here. You are kind of a legend.
I mean, I I have just a simple side. In a little bit, I want to talk a little bit more about how you became a meme.
But first, let's talk about the food. We have a dish I wasn't expecting to find in Uganda. It's called palao. Palao is found all over the world. I also had palao in Afghanistan. So, what is Ugandan palao? Palao is a combination of rice and beef, well fried and served hot. Ugandan palao is a rice dish typically cooked with fried onions and masala. But this vendor takes it a step further by frying the rice itself. On top of the rice, they add a familiar beef stew. Usually this is where this dish ends. But here they don't stop until the plate nearly collapses under the weight of all the food. First a British favorite, beans. Next, stewed cow peas cooked with onions, tomatoes, green peppers, curry powder, and cooking oil. Finally, ground nuts bring it to a finish. All right. Should we try some of this panel? Oh, let's go. Cheers.
Oh, that's good. You can really taste the whole spices in there. Like, there's so much flavor soaked into every grain of rice. We have the cinnamon, curry powder, we have cloves sometimes, and it makes it tasty. Uncle Ben's got nothing on this. Sorry, Uncle Ben.
We do have a nice piece of beef on the side here. Should we try it out? Yeah.
What do you think?
It's very tough. I still like it. It's similar to the meat I tried earlier. All right. So, that's the food. But I want to talk a little bit more about you.
Obviously, you came to prominence around the world because of this clip that went viral. But how long ago was that interview? Cuz it felt like a long time ago. Uh it's 13 years ago to be precise.
It was around 2012. Soon after the interview, it went viral and went silent. Every after 3 months, it would come back in different shapes. Then there was a huge debate in the US and they were talking about how Uganda is repressive towards people with gay orientation. So over time it's been growing. It's been growing but over the past couple of years it's become more explosive. How has the viral nature of the video? How has that affected your life?
Sometimes I tend to downplay its impact.
A bit later I realized that I needed to cash in on it. I'm doing cameos lately.
For those of you who don't know, Cameo is a website where you can go pay money and have celebrities or someone like Simon right here read a script or wish someone happy birthday or whatever. How many cameos are you doing a week?
Roughly, let's put it at 20 30. And it's always just right to the point. Ask my friend why he's gay.
Why are you gay? Sorry, I wasn't asking you, but that's that's what the cameo people are asking you. At first, I thought it was really sensitive, but I'm glad it's now been trivialized to that extent. That seems like the right way forward, like just something funny to say to one of your guy friends. After a giant plate of Ugandan Palao, I'm only $1.40 closer to my goal. In a moment, I'm going to dig deeper into Simon, the man behind the meme. But first, he'll guide me through a meaty classic Ugandan street food. Here's how it comes together. All right, folks. We have come to our next food, the food that we're going to be sharing with Simon before he has to leave for the day. I am here with Panina. Hello. And she has this. That is a special soup made of the cow's hooves.
This is something very prized here in Uganda, and I can't wait to try it out.
The hooves are prepared simply boiled in a broth with onions, tomatoes, green peppers, garlic, and salt. Then they're served hot. So, this is our final meal together. After you leave, I'm going to continue on without you. And actually, I'm going to be eating something that's kind of crazy for Uganda. It's expensive, and it's an insect. Do you know what I'm talking about?
Grasshoppers. grasshoppers and some kind of an ant with wings. Oh, it's a delicacy. Can I join you? Hey, if you stick around, why not? So, we have a new meal right here. We're going to talk about this in a moment, but first, I want to hear your take on Ugandan cuisine in general. What do you think makes Ugandan cuisine Ugandan cuisine?
One, we don't do a lot of frying. We love boiling. Two, the tools that we use, the sauce pans and the way we cook using charcoal stoves and firewood. It's well done. We don't do raw stuff here.
Now this is a a very good delicacy for especially for people who hang out in the evening. Ah this is the hangover cure right here. I can see that after a long night this can be the solution. Ah how's that delicious?
Oh my god. It is so rich but so savory.
It's salty. Very fatty. It's nice. If you take a look here she gave us two parts. This is kind of the shank and then that is the actual hoop there. This is how we do it. Even I'll just go for it. What you're holding right now, it's a piece you like, right? Sure. You know how I know that? Because right before we started eating, he said, "Can we switch bowls?" Thising guy. This is a tendon.
All right. Here we go.
It's so gummy. It's so salty. And it's just taken on all the flavor of that broth. It's very good. So, right here we have the skin, which is really softened up. I'm going to try just eating it like a piece of corn.
Wow. It's so rich. The skin is thick but chewy. a little leathery. I want to teach you something. Get that bone and suck the start of it. It's nice. You'll love it. I have a quick question for you. Why are you gay?
Out of everybody in the world, this guy just looked me in the eyes and he said, "Take that bone and suck it." Does that make you gay? That is gay. So, this is what would have been sucked from the inside of the bone. It's already fallen out. That is the bone marrow.
Buttery, smooth. I could definitely see if you're hung over. and the next day you're feeling kind of depleted. In the USA, we might drink a Gatorade here.
This is Gatorade on steroids. Before you go, I want to ask you a couple more questions. The meme, it's raging on right now. It seems like you're more viral than ever. Is it going to fade away soon? Do you want it to fade? Not really. Somehow I've gotten so accustomed to it to the extent that sometimes when I'm walking with my family, some people bump into you and shout, "Why are you going?" At first, it was embarrassing course, but over time, my kids have gotten used to it. And I wish it would stay forever. I have one more question for you. Can I call you mista? Simon, shake my dirty hand. Thank you so much. Can we do soup one? What?
Once more. Cheers. Cheers.
So good.
All right, folks. We are saying goodbye to Simon and saying hello to our next street food right here. This is something I did not expect to find here in Uganda, but today we're going to get a little buggy bite of goodness right here. Grasshoppers. stuff. Grasshoppers are a unique delicacy in Uganda for a couple of reasons. One, because of how rare they are. You see, grasshoppers here only have two seasons. Outside the season, no grasshoppers. And actually, right now, it is the low season. So, we are very fortunate to have stumbled upon these. For everything you see right here in these leaves, it cost $27.50.
That's outrageous. That is how in demand these grasshoppers are. I am going to try it out, but I want to try it out with a friend. Ma'am, do you like grasshoppers? I like them. Why do you like them? I like them because they are too sweet. They come in different season as well. Can we try some grasshoppers?
Thank you. I'm humbled.
She's making eye contact with the camera. It tastes good. It is tasting so well. They are well fried. I'm going to grab some right now. You can see against my hand. They're kind of yellowish brown. They're pretty tiny. Let's give it a shot.
[Music] Oh, are they tasty? They taste so good.
So good. It's like uh peanuts. Peanuts.
It's great. I think that means no. It's not like peanuts. It's a little bit sweet. It's very salty. It's fried, so they're crispy. Plus, you taste the oil, too. It's a good flavor. So, those are grasshoppers, but this is not our final insect of this video. In fact, there's another strange insect that I've never tried before that folks are eating here.
It's an ant, but it's the type of ant that's scary. These are ants with wings.
We're going to be trying them later, but next, we're getting back to that chicken stew. Let's move. And our goal of hitting $100 worth of street food here in Kala continues. Right now, I have come to another kitchen run by this lady. hot.
Hey, now earlier we got to see that chicken being made as it was mixed with the tomato sauce. Now here we have the final product. This thing has been stewing for hours and it looks absolutely gorgeous.
Can I be honest with you guys? It's we It's a different place. It's the same recipe. The place before it was all legs and thighs. This we've got whole pieces of chicken. We got breast. We got wings.
All right, folks. We have our next food right here. One thing that's very unique about the chicken here is that it is expensive. In fact, for an entire live chicken, it's about $14 here in Kala.
That's wild because if you go to Costco in the USA, you can pay $5 or $6 and get an entire chicken that's already cooked.
That being said, I'm excited to try this out. Let's give it a shot.
The first thing that hits me is this broth that it's soaking in the stew.
It's so oily and rich, but that is delicious. Then the second thing that stood out to me was the texture. It is very chewy. This is the chicken wing.
Overall, not a super meaty looking bird.
It's got some spring.
M. It is not soft. It is not succulent, but it is absolutely delicious. But let's talk about the price. Everything in this bowl, it cost $5.50. Fairly expensive. But is that going to help us get to our goal of $100? Actually, we have one more surprising food in store.
a food that is one of the most expensive foods that you will find at this market.
We're going to go buy that next and see if it puts us over $100. All right, folks. Right here we are building up to the absolute strangest food of the day.
Also, one of the most expensive. It resides right here within this leafy package. You might see some of them are already leaking out. Oh, there's one of them right there. And there's some right there. Those are white ants. A rare insect, something difficult to find in Uganda and something certainly expensive to buy. So, this leafy parcel is absolutely full of these ants. Probably half of them are dead, but the other half very alive. Before we eat these, I really want to discover how many are in here, cuz it may be millions. Oh my gosh. Oh, how is this going to work? Oh my lord. Oh, take a look at that already. It looks delicious. No, wait, what? This is food. Oh, take a look at that. This thing is absolutely full of ants. In reality, these white ants are actually African termites. Here, termites represent a valuable source of protein and fat. In fact, they contain even more protein than beef to collect them. Nets are used to gather the wing treats as they take flight during migration. Here's the best part of this food. It's eaten raw. I'm going to need some help on this one. Could you come over here? Hello, ma'am. How are you?
I'm fine. You like ants? Yes, I like too much. Why do you like the ants? They are sweet. They're sweet. Okay. And I was hoping you could show me how to eat them.
Oh wa. Oh my gosh. I thought she was going to take one. She just took like 50 all together in a big clump and ate them all. And now she's picking them up one by one, like eating crumbs from a cake.
I'm going to eat some of her crumbs here. You can see that's a nice size one. They're all wings, but you're supposed to eat the wings. Cheers.
Oddly enough, it tastes a little bit like saffron. They feel absolutely bizarre. It is warm in here. These guys have been cooking all day. Right there in my fingers, they feel super silky.
We're going to go for it together. Are you ready? All right. Cheers.
[Music] I took a little too much. I think I've never had a 100 insects at one time.
It's silky. It's smooth. It's crunchy.
It's a bizarre combination, but not a strong flavor. What do you think it tastes like? It's like milk. Milk?
You know what? That's a brilliant comparison. It is a little bit like a cross between dairy and saffron. When you add salt, it is very nice. She tries it out better. I'm going to taste it, too. Let me hit it with a little bit of salt. Boom. Emerald Legasi. Grab a a little bit of a smaller bite and toss it back. Yeah.
You know what? Better. It brings out a little bit different flavor. I got to say, I'm very impressed. This is one of the most weird unique food experiences I've ever had. But somehow at the end of it, it's amazing. When you woke up this morning, did you know you were going to eat some delicious white ants? No, I did cuz it was on our schedule. But I'm glad we could share this moment together.
It's okay. No problem. All right. I was hoping for a little bit more of a connection than that, but I'll take it.
In a moment, I'm going to reveal how much money we spent today on street food. But first, I want to say a huge thank you to Nicholas from the YouTube channel Eating the African Way. Nicholas

introduced me to all the foods we saw today and many of the foods we have coming in our future Uganda videos.  him a follo

Go give

w on YouTube to learn more about his fun food adventures. Now, 

let's get back to the money. After a full day of eating street food here in Uganda, I managed to spend $62. Not quite 100, but a lot more than I expected. Most of that coming from those rare delicacies, the grasshopper and the white ants. So, that is it for this video. We have a lot more coming from Uganda.