Mbarara Thanksgiving

We at the Mbarara MVP Intern House introduced about 25 colleagues to the joys of Thanksgiving. The menu was not too different than I’m used to and it WAS a joyful way to give thanks. Similar to my usual habit, I spent the day cooking and then shared a feast. So the menu…Turkeys are hard to come by here and no one at the market knew where to find one. One of our co-workers, who manages the Millennium Villages Project radio station, solved out problem by advertising on the radio. We got a response and the turkey was transferred to our house. The turkey, billed to us as 8 kg, felt light on arrival and our efforts to fatten it didn’t work- it didn’t like the cornmeal we tried to feed it but at least spent the last two weeks happily pecking for insects and grass in the yard with the chickens. Thanksgiving morning started with walks to the market and to a location where people produce and sell charcoal. Midmorning, a Muslim colleague arrived to slaughter the turkey so that he and other Muslims could eat it. Once de-feathered, the turkey disappointingly looked like a large chicken though the upside to the scrawny size was that it was small enough to fit into the oven. Our oven now has a thermometer and we were able to start the cooking at 450 and then lower the temperature 100 degrees by opening and closing the ‘door’- the turkey came out beautifully. Also on the menu were goat stew, chapatti, mashed potatoes, carrots with honey and cinnamon (a family recipe from an American housemate), creamed doddo (a local green), mango chutney (no cranberries here), fruit salad (fabulous tropical fruits), pumpkin pie (my efforts at tracking down a pumpkin were successful and although the pumpkin was green and striped on the outside it otherwise was really a pumpkin), and a papaya pie. Completing all items with the oven, one gas burner, an outdoor fire pit, and a small charcoal stove (borrowed at the last minute from our groundskeeper) was chaotic by the end- as it always is for me at home.