Bài học lớp học · Food · 🇰🇪 Kenya

Ugali - Kenya's staple food

A simple, comforting dish that families across Kenya eat together

A plate of ugali served with sukuma wiki

Photo · Wikimedia Commons

Đây là gì?

Ugali is the most common food in Kenya. It is made by cooking maize flour and water together until it becomes a thick, soft, doughy block that you can break off in pieces with your hands. It is plain on its own - like rice or bread - and is eaten with something tasty alongside.

Kể thêm cho tôi nghe

Making ugali is simple but takes a bit of muscle. You boil water in a pot, slowly stir in maize flour, and then stir hard with a wooden spoon as it turns into a thick paste. After a few minutes, the cook tips it onto a plate where it sets into a soft block.

Most Kenyan families eat ugali with their hands. You break off a small piece, roll it gently in your palm to make a little scoop, and use it to pick up the side dishes. The two most common side dishes are sukuma wiki (greens - a bit like kale or spinach, cooked with onions and tomatoes) and a meat stew.

Many countries around the world have a 'staple' food - the everyday food everyone has grown up with. In Italy it might be pasta. In Mexico it might be tortillas. In Japan it might be rice. In Kenya, it is ugali. The dish on the side changes; the ugali is always there.

Maize, the plant ugali is made from, didn't always grow in Kenya. It was originally a crop from the Americas. It travelled all the way around the world hundreds of years ago and is now the most important food crop in many African countries.

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Gợi ý thảo luận

  1. 01What is the staple food in your home? The food that feels like it is always there?
  2. 02Why might it help, growing up, to have one food everyone in your family eats together often?
  3. 03Ugali is eaten with your hands. Can you think of foods you eat with your hands? Why are some foods eaten that way?
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Hoạt động lớp học

As a class, list every staple food you can think of from around the world: pasta, rice, bread, tortillas, ugali, potatoes, noodles. Mark on a world map where each one is most commonly eaten. Are there patterns by climate?

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