How the humble ‘rolex’ celebrates Uganda’s uniqueness!
How do you sum up Uganda, the Pearl of Africa to would-be visitors? And what makes Uganda unique?
I received an interesting email recently: “I have been following your adventures and love what you do. Uganda is a country with incredible soul and you manage to capture it in the most beautiful and charming ways. We are currently working on a campaign that aims to inspire unity amongst Africans and promote Africa as the ultimate travel destination.”
I was therefore asked to “shoot a short video of yourself explaining what makes Uganda such a wonderful country.”
If you’ve read my “50 reasons why I love Uganda” you’ll know that creating a one-minute video to encapsulate all of that would be impossible! I wrote 50 reasons to honour 50 years of Uganda’s independence – that list gets longer day by day.
I was touring Uganda at the time, researching the country’s best lodges for Fodor’s “Complete Guide to the African Safari” guidebook. As the video deadline approached, I was in Buhoma, Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.
I happened to be travelling with former Urban TV producer Arthur Katabalwa – and what followed was an impromptu piece to camera during a rolex-making demo!
(Fast forward the video to 1 minute 30 seconds to meet bloggers from Uganda!)
The rolex “rolled eggs” (omelette) wrapped in a chapati is becoming infamous now. This simple street food sums up some quintessential Ugandaness:
- Rolex is Uglish (a unique take on the English language which frequently has us all rolling around the floor in stitches!)
- Entrepreneurship: setting up a roadside rolex stall is a popular small business in Uganda.
- The rolex stall is where we stand around chatting as we wait to be served. It’s where we may start our day.
- It’s where many people end a late night – grabbing a cheap bite to eat after a night on the town. If you’re lucky, your boda boda guy will drive right up to the rolex guy’s stall and you won’t even need to get off your boda!
I was honoured to appear alongside well-known Ugandan bloggers Rosebell Kagumire, Ernest Bazanye and Sophie from a Kitchen in Uganda in this video. Incidentally, it was Sophie who helped the rolex go global when it featured on CNN in the article “Delicious African foods you should try.”
Trevor Noah gets his rolex fix (allegedly!) in Wandegeya, Kampala
Almost thought Trevor was here!!! Hahaha…. Truly, rolex is one Ugandan thing one can be proud of.
You have to love #UOT (Ugandans on Twitter) – the memes people created were fantastic!
Now I want a rolex! Hahahaha – So I came here hoping that you would have a rolex receipe.. tehehehe! Great post CB!
Ps: I believe these socks belong to me!
That’s a good point – I must get one and feature it on the blog!
Now I’m hungry!
LOL – yeah, all that rolex talk got me salivating too!
Can’t over go the smiles and laughter after reading this blog post.
It’s so special and reminds me of a time i was in vienna and told a friend if i could grab a rolex. And she was like what? Rolex? Yes… for eating!! And asked if they really do eat rolex. 🙂 lol.
Anyhow, great surf here.
Cheers
Ugandans’ sense of humour is just fantastic! Have you read the book about Uglish by Bernard Sabiti?
Interesting!!.
Just got to know about Uglish 😀
I tell you, in Nairobi its x2 😀
Ever noticed that?
Uglish is such a fantastic language 🙂
I’m off to Nairobi this month and shall keep my ears open.
Haha i loved this, i didn’t know Rolex was that special.I used to know Rolex as an everyday food more especially for campus students who enjoy delicious but quick to prepare foods. This is great.
Did you know a rolex is fast becoming one of those ‘must-eat’ items on a tourist’s itinerary? It’s like you haven’t seen the real UG unless you’ve tried one!
Thanks for dropping by Martin 🙂
After reading this article yesterday, I rushed for a rolex, which I hadn’t eaten in like a really really long time!
Oh, man! I’m just so I’m love with this “cuisine”
LOL Juliet.
Actually, I could eat a rolex right now as well!
Yesterday I tried one that had bacon in. Wow it was pretty fantastic… try Coffee at Last in Makindye. They also make fab coffee!
Where does the name Rolex come from? Would love to know. Thank you.
Rolex = rolled eggs!
An omelette rolled up in a chapati. Yum
No Seat At The Global Table For Indigenous African Cuisine – an interesting article.
“Gastronomic tourism based on African food could easily increase and create new value chains that unlock billions in untapped wealth for the continent, but what is stopping us?”
https://www.forbesafrica.com/focus/2019/09/16/no-seat-at-the-global-table-for-indigenous-cuisine/
well for real this……. piece of delicious of rolex is delicious come to Uganda a receive your portion
The rolex is always popular with visitors to UG 🙂