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A Ugandan food market is the quickest way to see what people here actually eat: piles of green matoke bananas, small red tomatoes, avocados, passion fruit, dried silver fish from Lake Victoria, fresh-ground groundnut paste and sacks of beans and maize flour. Kampala’s best-known markets are Nakasero, for quality produce in the city centre, and Owino (St Balikuddembe), the largest and busiest. Here is what to look for, how to shop, and two simple dishes to cook with what you buy.
Ugandan Food Market Guide: What to Buy and How to Cook It
How a Ugandan market works
Markets are loosely arranged by section: fresh produce, dried fish, meat, grains and flour, spices, and household goods. Most open early and stay busy until evening, with the freshest produce and the most activity in the morning. Many items are sold in heaps or piles at a fixed price rather than by weight, so you point at a pile of tomatoes or onions and pay what the seller asks. For larger purchases or for clothing and crafts, some bargaining is normal, but margins on food are thin, so keep it friendly.
Carry small notes, as sellers often cannot change large ones, and ask before taking photos of people or stalls. Keep phones and wallets in a front pocket in crowded areas such as Owino. Going with a local guide makes the visit easier and much more interesting, because they can explain what each ingredient is used for. See our guides to Nakasero Market and Owino Market.
Fresh produce to look for
Bananas come in many varieties: green matoke for steaming, gonja plantains for roasting, and small sweet bananas for eating. Choose firm, evenly green, heavy matoke with no soft spots. Tomatoes are small and full of flavour, and appear in almost every stew. Avocados are large and cheap; many varieties stay green when ripe, so press gently rather than judging by colour.
Fruit is one of the pleasures of Uganda. Look for sweet pineapples, mangoes in season, purple and yellow passion fruit, papaya and jackfruit, which is sold whole or in segments. You will also find orange- and white-fleshed sweet potatoes, cassava, pumpkin, eggplant, the bitter garden egg, and leafy greens such as dodo (amaranth) and nakati. Matoke in particular is worth understanding; see our guide to matoke, Uganda’s national dish.
Dried and staple ingredients
Groundnuts are sold raw, roasted, or freshly ground into a coarse paste on electric mills at the stall, the base of the classic groundnut sauce. Sim sim (sesame) paste is popular in the north. Mukene, tiny silver fish from Lake Victoria, are dried in the sun and sold in large piles; they are strong-smelling but a cheap, important source of protein, added to sauces. Dried and smoked tilapia and Nile perch are sold too.
The grain section has maize flour for posho, millet flour for porridge and kalo, beans of many colours, rice and cassava flour. Spice sellers stock fresh ginger and turmeric, chillies, curry powder and pilau masala, a reminder of the Indian influence on Ugandan cooking, which also gave the country its chapati and the rolex. See our guide to Kampala street food.
Two simple dishes to cook
Groundnut sauce: soften a chopped onion and two or three tomatoes in a little oil. Stir about 200 g of groundnut paste into 400–500 ml of water until smooth, add it to the pan, and simmer gently for 20–30 minutes, stirring often so it does not stick, until thick and slightly oily on top. Season with salt. Add smoked fish, mushrooms or greens if you like, and serve with matoke, rice or sweet potato.
Steamed matoke: peel the green bananas, oiling your hands or wearing gloves because the sap stains, then wrap them in banana leaves, or foil, and steam over boiling water for about an hour until completely soft. Squeeze or mash them inside the leaves and serve hot with the groundnut sauce, beans or a meat stew. To learn properly, book a cooking class; see our guide to a Ugandan cooking class.
Markets on the way to the gorillas
Outside Kampala, towns such as Mbarara, Kabale and Kisoro have lively markets, and roadside stalls sell roasted maize, gonja, fruit and grilled meat on skewers along the main routes to Bwindi. Stopping briefly at one is an easy way to break a long drive. Wash or peel fruit before eating, and choose food that is cooked hot in front of you. See our guide to street food on the road to Bwindi.
Frequently asked questions
Nakasero for quality produce in a manageable setting; Owino for size, variety and atmosphere.
Lightly. Food is often sold in fixed-price piles; bargaining is more usual for larger purchases and crafts.
Small silver fish from Lake Victoria, sun-dried and added to sauces as a cheap source of protein.
Morning, when produce is freshest and the market is most active.
