Americans believe that they eat massive amounts of food. They don’t. If my six-year-old host brother Chief were to be put in an eating match against an overweight Texan I would bet on Chief. Our host father explained it as Ugandans needing real eating to do the hard work they do. I agree. I do not work as hard as they do, or exert as much energy on any given day. As a result I do not need to eat as much. My host family has not yet realized this. Thus far I have received four massive meals with at least 5 dishes served at each. This includes, beans, cabbage, rice, matokee (mashed and boiled Bananas), fish or meat, an odd wheat blob, and peas. Even taking a small amount of each food makes enough of a feast for me. Everything also contains a large amount of starch. This makes it stay in your stomach even longer. We also have tea (I’m not sure if this is a more traditional practice or something left over from the Brits). Tea is smaller, usually two pieces of filling break, or dads and chapatti. Today we had tosties (French toast) and French Fries (home fried Irish potato wedges). It is still filling. Dads are the only things that Agnes has taught us how to make so far. Apparently, Agnes is one of the only women in the village who can make them. She made the dough and Eliza and I cut them into small rectangles before they were fried. They were somewhat like doughnut holes. This morning though they were stale and I almost broke my teeth. They made a good snack in the afternoon though. I know I’m not, but I still feel full. I almost through up this morning because I had so much food.
