Cheese

I almost couldn’t believe my eyes, was I seeing what I thought I was seeing? How could it be true? It was April 1^st, this must be someone’s idea of a joke. There it was, just sitting in the freezer case looking as innocent as can be, like it had always been there and nothing out of the ordinary was happening. Yes, there it was... a wheel of gouda cheese AND it was selling for 18000 Uganda shillings! A mere $9.00! Here I was picking up a few things at Smartshopper, (Masaka’s largest supermarket) never suspecting that I’d see such an amazing thing on such an ordinary day. Will wonders never cease?

Let me provide some background in order to help you understand why I was so stunned. Here are some basic facts:

1. Ugandans don’t eat cheese in their regular diet.

2. check it out in a cookbook if you don’t believe me, but Westerners eat cheese in some form or other probably every day. We like it particularly in many of our favourite comfort foods—pizza, mac and cheese, TexMex, grilled cheese sandwiches, etc. We also use it in countless other meals, appetizers and desserts.

3. Being far from home makes you crave comfort food...a lot!

4. until fairly recently one couldn’t buy cheese in Uganda

5. nowadays you can buy a variety of cheeses (feta, cream, cheddar, processed) in Kampala, but it is expensive

6. cheese is not an item that Smartshopper usually stocks

7. we normally have to travel to Kampala-a 2 ½ hour drive away- to replenish our cheese supply as needed and we are very willing to pay 25 000 Uganda shillings there for the privilege. (that’s about $12.00)

So perhaps you can begin to see why I was so delighted with this discovery. If Smartshopper begins to stock cheap(er) cheese here in Masaka, it means we might be able to live an almost Kampala-free existence here. And that means fewer trips on that dodgy highway, less time spent in the crazy Kampala traffic and a lower petrol bill. Sweet!

Actually, that’s not exactly true. We may have scored cheese in Masaka, but if we don’t go to Kampala, we can’t stock lettuce, broccoli, Kraft dinner, chicken that has been skinned, boned and conveniently packaged, red peppers or sour cream in our fridges! I guess Kampala continues to be a necessary inconvenience from time to time. That’s ok, Kampala also has shopping malls, movie theatres and guesthouses where I can blow dry my hair; it’s not so bad!

P.S. Think of me when you open your lunch bag and unwrap that cheese sandwich you have every day. Don’t take cheese for granted!