The Foods
Taboo Foods:
Many of the good, nutritious foods that abounded in their kingdom were taboo. A mutooro did not eat “birds” or their eggs. So, for the longest time, the batooro did not eat chicken or eggs.
A mutooro did not eat “frogs” (a derogatory name generalized over everything from the water, including fish). It was ironic, therefore, that while Toro boasted of having two fresh water lakes teeming with delicious tilapia nilotica, they considered it beneath them to eat the fish!
A mutooro did not eat the meat of any animal that had upper teeth, because such an animal was like a dog.
The Batooro loved their cattle and shoats (sheep and goats). Unfortunately, it was very difficult to rear these alongside pigs; normally, the shoats and cattle died. It is for this reason; some say that the the Batooro considered pork as a taboo food. It was actually an abomination for one to rear pigs or even eat the pork.
They Batooro did not eat grasshoppers either. Instead they were looked at as crop destroyers.
Whatever the taboo was, it went double for the women. However today, many of these cultural norms are not adhered to anymore; though, there are some old batooro women who will not allow chicken, fish or pork to be cooked in their kitchens!
Traditional Foods
- OmukaroSoup
| Ingredients: Dried Meat Dried White Ants Dried Mushrooms Cow Ghee Black Salt |
To prepare this, get fresh meat and cut it into desired sizes. Note that each piece should be able to be consumed in a single bite, and also be conscious that when meat is dried, it shrinks. From the bushes, get sticks WHICH TYPE OF STICKS? and poke the meat to make many. Light a fire and as you prepare other meals, place this stick(s) next to it. Do not roast it. The heat from the fire that you have lit shall dry it. Do this repetitively until it is completely dry and hard. Let it cool.
To store it, get a basket, pot or container made of wood; put in millet flour and add your dried meat. Make sure that the dried meat is all covered by millet flour. This is called a kimoga. The kimoga is then hang in the kitchen or house. Dried meat is called omukaro.
When you want to prepare the sauce, obtain your meat from the kimoga. Get a pot, add your omukaro, and water. Bring this to the boil. You will know that your omukaro is readywhen its soft. Add dried mushrooms (obutuzi bweera), dried white ants (enswa) and black salt (ekisura) to taste. Let them simmer together for atleast 20 minutes. After, add more ekisura. Also add ghee (amaghita g’ente).
It is mandatory that when serving omukaro, millet bread (akaro) must not only be present but be the main dish.
- Firinda (Bean paste)
| Ingredients Beans Water Ghee Egg plants Black salt Pumpkin leaves |
Soak the beans in water overnight. In the morning, gently remove the testa (seed coat) and put in a pan with cold water. Add the egg plants and pumpkin leaves (you can use cowpea leaves – eteke); and boil them till the beans are soft.
Using a separate pan, drain the water out; and using a bean pound stick called ekibaya, pound till mashed. Do not pour away the water. This water is returned after mashing to form a paste. Add black salt and ghee to taste.
This soup is served with millet, banana, sweet potatoes and/or mingled cassava flour.
- To make Ghee:
| Ingredients Milk Gourd Saucepan Sieve |
Ghee is made from the milk of a cow that has been lactating for at least one month. Ghee is made by women not men.
After obtaining the milk, she puts it in a gourd and allows it to ferment for up to twelve (12) hours. She then sits down with her legs folded backward and places the gourd that has the fermented milk in it, on a soft material; shakes it back and forth until it produces fat in the milk. This process is called churning. It takes between thirty to sixty minutes to complete.
The churning has three processes: first, for about ten minutes, she shakes the gourd vigorously, while periodically removing the lid to let out the pressure that has formed inside, as well as pay attention to the changing sounds in the gourd. When the butter formation begins, and the sounds change, she reduces the shaking. The butter begins as small droplets that finally coagulate to form bigger pieces. She then proceeds to the third phase that includes afain, enacting with a slower rotation of the gourd to allow the bigger pieces of butter fat to coagulate into single larger pieces, which enhances separation of butter from the milk residue.
She then pours the milk residue through a sieve, separating it from the butter fat. The butter fat is washed by rinsing small portions of butter at a time, with clean water while pressing in between palms to squeeze out any milk left. This is done to remove any dirt and any elements of residual milk.
After, the butter is mixed with black salt and stored in a calabash, called ensimbo to ripen for at least 1 week. After a week, it can be consumed. This is called enkyundiro ya magita. Ripening allows native microorganisms to mediate reactions that yield the desirable aroma and color in the butter fat
Thereafter, it can be used. It is important to note that the longer one leaves the butter, now ghee in the calabash, the stronger the taste and the sweeter the product. The calabashes are said to enhance the aroma of the butter.
Ghee is also used for bridal purposes. To make this, do not add black salt. Instead, after washing the butter, now ghee, store it in a cow horn, eyihebe lya amagita until it assumes a whitish color. This is mature ghee. It is used to smoothern the brides’ skins before marriage.
Typically, five (5) liters of milk is churned in a ten (10) liter volume guard. In less common situations, 10 liters of milk are churned in a 20-liter volume gourd. Due to mechanical shaking, the 20-liter gourds tend to break, hence infrequently used.
Ebiserere
Dry fry the beans, then pound then for the shells to get off. Then grind them using a grinding stone to get powder.
To prepare them, boil water and put in greens(which type?), ghee and black salt. After, add the bean powder and stir. Choose your desired consistency.
Served with matooke or millet
Millet bread – locally called Akaro, is made from cassava and millet flour and then mingled in hot water in a clay pan (entamu) until it is tender – tenderness indicated by the sound. Served in a basket called ekibo. Add pictures of these tools
Obutuzi (Mushroom sauce) – Dried mushroom is mixed with omukaro or groundnut sauce photo of the mushroom type
Enyamusiri – indigenous dodo or soft yam leaves are very slippery. U mix with black salt, eggplant, cow ghee
Omugobe – greens called gobe and mix with gnuts
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