In Kenya maize is eaten with lemon and chilli

From roasted cassava, plantain, grilled juicy chicken to roasted goat’s meat and liver, a road trip on Uganda’s major highways is an awesome dining experience altogether.

Many Kenyan highways, in contrast, are dry without any major street food options. The closest you will get to street food on their roads is roasted maize and juiceless oranges.

This is really strange, given that in East Africa Kenya is famed for its nyama choma (roasted meat). Is it to do with strict health regulations or just the culture?

And as Ugandans continue to debate on which is better, boiled or roasted maize, Kenyans just took it to another level. Roasted maize is smudged with fresh lemon and ground chilli pepper powder.

It is optional and the buyer is left to apply their desired amounts but the mere thought of it will send the teeth and taste into a tangy and piquant chills mode.

You really need dining courage for a first-timer to try it out, but props to the one(s) who thought about this pairing. It actually makes roasted maize taste much better. If you are a fan of Pringles, the taste is almost exactly like that but with better freshness.

The sweetness of fresh maize blends well with the fragrant lemon flavours with the chilli balancing it off with spicy blends. Another significant roasted maize difference is the preference for older and harder corn as opposed to the soft and younger corn that many Ugandans prefer.

Little wonder that when it is maize harvest season in Uganda, there will be maize everywhere before it all disappears like it was never before. In Kenya, it stays on the streets just a bit longer.

fkisakye@observer.ug