“Gonja” is a sweet, roasted banana, sold on the corners and curb sides of Evening Kampala. You’ll buy it from a middle-aged lady, or perhaps a young girl – women who appear like spirits at dusk, materializing alongside food stands, vendors, and previously-non-existent, hole-in-the-wall restaurants. Crouched over a small, battered, charcoal grill, the lady turns bananas slowly with her fingers, but hands you yours in a bit of torn-off notebook paper. You’ll give her 100 shillings in return, and she’ll take it politely, with both hands. Gonja is a medium-sized banana, tannish-yellow and almost leathery on the outside, with black marks from the grill – not entirely appealing. On the inside, though, it is soft, an egg-yolk yellow, sweet but not overly. You’ll continue walking along the street, night-life and food stands humming like folklore, eating your Gonja and watching the dance of Kampala at night.
It’s important to understand bananas in the Kingdom of Buganda. There’s Gonja, the roasted, medium-sized, picked-when-yellow banana. This is a snack, to be bought on the street or through the window of a bus. There’s Matoke, a banana that is picked when green, peeled, mashed, and steamed – this is the staple food of Buganda, and eaten at almost every meal here. You receive a great heap of it on your plate, along with small portions of vegetable, meat, or beans. Matoke has little taste alone but it sticks in your stomach for hours, and many Muganda do not feel they have eaten a full meal without it.
Then there’s Ndizi, a very small, fat, not-particularly-sweet banana, sold yellow in baskets on the street for eating. Mvoovoo is apparently quite like Matoke, but often cooked while still in it’s peel – one can do this with Matoke also, and you do see Matoke served whole, but the usual form is mashed. The most common eating banana, perhaps, is Bagoya, which is long and yellow and sweet. Bagoya is most similar to the typical bananas we buy in the US or UK, and quite filling.
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