Team.
I have come up with this topic on staple foods for specif tribes in Africa: why is it so?
To me i think that the staple food thing has evolved over time from fact that specific food crops accept to grow in specific geographical locations. This is due to varying ecological conditions. Over the years our ancestral parents have always chosen to grow and eat certain foods depending on, majorly, their local availability in that area and may be the different perceptions on that food item by the people in the locality.
Thanks Sarah for the posted topic, to begin with in Uganda each tribe definitely have a specific staple food reason being, the soils and what is grown on their land for example in West Nile they grow cassava, sorghum,tu beans among others so these crops constitute the type of staple food they have to eat the same applies to the central which plants matooke, and you will find it hard to separate the eastern from sweet potatoesated what. All in all the type of soils will dictate what type of food should be grown and this definitely determine the type of staple food for that tribe.
Pascal.
Thank you for your contribution on this! But my other question is, do people just get used to the food grown in their areas since it is the only option or it is God’s plan that that is what people should eat as their best?
Because people from Northern Uganda especially Luo Langi and Luo Acholi eat millet, even people in West Nile region as you said, and yet their climate is not all the best. People in western Uganda especially Nkole people and Batooro and Banyoro also grow and eat millet and their soils are really fertile especially Nkole areas.
Another thing Pascal, I doubt if Buganda (Central region) grows Matooke (Banana) as it used apart from a few areas in Masaka and its surroundings. So they are now separable with matooke. When i visit my aunts in Mpigi, Masaka, Mubende, Mityana and Luwero, we just buy matooke- which comes from western Uganda, i no longer see serious gardens!You can’t imagine that Banana was too much and grown on large scale in Eastern Uganda too especially in Busoga, Bugisu, Bunyole and Bugwere. When you mention that, eastern Uganda is inseparable with potatoes, i doubt you. Eastern is complex with several tribes-Bantu people and non-Bantu. Non-Bantu like Itesots, Karamojonj, Kumam, Sabiny, Dhopadhola, then Bantu people like Basoga, Bagwere, Banyole, Basamia and Bagisu do not enjoy eating potatoes as stable food. Mid-Eastern which covers Busoga region eat Posho day in day out (Food made from maize flour) and they grow maize on a very large scale;. the saying that they only eat potatoes is not true. By the way; Potatoes are eaten more by every tribe than eastern Uganda. Bakiga like it most. Then Bagisu mostly grow Matooke (Banana) on large scale and it is what they eat day in day out. They still have a lot of Matooke than even central or Buganda! But my question was…why people enjoy their own food even when it is not prepared in the best way? E.g Malawians eat Nsima-maize food made out of maize flour- what us in Uganda call posho. But the way Malawians and Zimbabweans make their Nsima is not good for some people who are not Malawians. Their Nsima is too soft- slipperly, almost like porridge!
That is true pascalalex Soils as part of natural ecosystem and one of the major leveraging ecological conditions to favor the growth of plant x. Here in mid western Uganda we are proud of millet, cassava and maize as staples. But this could be because that’s what our environment ( temp, RH, and soils) supports.