Pork Joint

Most of my work days start around 9 a.m. Coincidentally, soon after, typically between 9 and 9:30, I begin to hear the sounds of squealing and very happy (or maybe angry, hungry, excited?) not sure, but VERY vocal pig sounds coming from next door. So I believe that means it's chow time.  At times they have to compete with the loud mooing of the local cows or the yelling of nearby grazing goats (really the goats sound like they are yelling -- it sometimes sounds like children yelling or babies crying, it's hilarious).  But I digress...

Back to the swine. Perhaps it’s convenient that we live near pigs since people in Soroti tend to like going out for pork (except those who are Muslim of course).  In fact, I had been told since I arrived here about a month ago that I must go with some coworkers to one of the local pork joints.

Now, for the ladies who were with me here in January, you may recall this pork joint we passed on a road somewhere:   

Roadside pork joint in Uganda

Fortunately, the ones here are not like that (though when I think about it, the meat is probably purchased from a similar style of stall in the Soroti market).  

So we went for our pork joint lunch this past week. It was quite an experience! It was interesting, we had planned to go with a group of about 7 or 8 of us, so ingredients were purchased by our staff at the local outdoor market ahead of time and dropped off at the “restaurant” that morning for preparations of the special favored pork dish. (I still don't understand why we purchase and they cook, but I was going with the flow.)

When we arrived, we had the one table in the place and were the only customers.  It was a beautiful day, and we sat out under a big tree and waited while the final preparations were being completed in the nearby building.

You get the special treatment when you're the only customers!

Doing lunch with Soroti coworkers

The pork dish arrived on two large platters, with sides of sliced avocado.  The dish was made with fried pork, Irish potatoes (basically regular potatoes, not sweet potatoes), carrots, onions, green peppers, tomatoes and some spices, including ginger, I believe.  I asked if the meal had a certain name, as this was especially the dish we were coming for and everyone’s favorite, but basically, it’s just referred to as "deep fried pork with spices."

Nice presentation!
(Additional spices available for seasoning on the left)

Close up of pork dish

We then ate the dish with our hands, family style. It was a lot of fun to have the experience and to go out to lunch. In the past 3 months, I think that’s only the second or third time I’ve gone out for lunch on a week day.   

Digging in!  Delicious! 

It was very tasty, but I must admit, I liked all of the veggies with the sauce more than the pork itself, but that’s not a surprise.