Cooking for a crowd in a banana plantation
The cooking hut is part of every homestead. The fire/hearth is on the floor, and women bend way over to add fire, stir food, and make adjustments in the cooking process.
Hon. Miria Matembe explains, "The women use eycupulyptus wood for cooking. They suffer from the smoke and heat of the cooking fires." (Huts normally do not have chimneys so smoke fills the hut and exits through the thatch roof. The first time you see this, it looks like the hut is on fire, because smoke is rising through the whole roof)
"They must bend way over to the ground to cook on these earth hearths. We want better technology."
To feed the people at this luncheon (about 75 people) the women cooked among the trees in the banana plantation on fire pits dug into the ground.
The fire burns in the pit and the metal soup pot is placed on the ground above the fire.
This vegetable and chicken soup is stirred with a long stick.
Here, a woman is removing banana leaves that surround steamed matoke. Matoke is a green banana that is cooked and served at every meal in Uganda. It is the staple of Ugandan diet (in combination with chicken, goat, fish and beef) Most of the banana plantations in Uganda are matoke.
Matoke is lifted from the pot and placed on banana leaves to be served for lunch.
This twig stand is the dishwashing station. Water is boiled for washing and rinsing.
Then the dishes are stacked to dry.
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