"Ninaomba ugali."
Translation:I ask for ugali.
37 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
For those who are unsure of what ugali is:
Ugali (also sometimes called Sima, Sembe, Obokima, Kaunga, Dona, Obusuma or Posho) is a dish made of maize flour (cornmeal), millet flour, or Sorghum flour (sometimes mixed with cassava flour) cooked in boiling liquid (water or Milk) to a porridge- or dough-like consistency. It is the most common staple starch featured in the local cuisines of the African Great Lakes region and Southern Africa. When ugali is made from another starch, it is usually given a specific regional name.
Notice how, in the picture (and all ugali I have ever eaten) the ugali is standing up in a mound, holding its shape. Nothing with porridge like consistency, needing a spoon to eat, could ever do that.
Thats because Ugali (which I HAVE eaten) is stiff porridge. And is actually eaten with your hands.
‘I request for’ is not correct usage. It should either be ‘I request’ or ‘I ask for’.
Looking at the pictures porridge is not a very good description. It looks more like the Austrian "knoedel" but then an African variant.
Ugali is not uji. Uji is like porridge - you need a spoon to eat it, or can drink it. Ugali on the other hand can be taken in bits and dipped in soup. You can even roll a piece of it in your hand into a ball and use your thumb to make an indent in it so it is like a handle-less spoon and use it to eat a little soup.
Because you need a spoon to eat porridge, and ugali is stiff, holding its shape, so it is not exactly like porridge.
What is the infinitive for the verb in this sentence? Is it kuomba? And what does it translate to?
What is the difference between "kuomba" and "kutaka"? In the 80s in the Kisumu area we usually used "taka" to mean you would like something. (Ninataka ugali.) "Kuomba" was reserved for asking God for things, or just talking with Him, ei: to pray.
Kutaka usually means "want." So in some places, it may be less formal than kuomba.
1537
Because ugali is its own thing. It's more like polenta than grits, if you've ever had either of those. I've seen other swahili courses translate it as just "ugali" in the English. Works for me.
And it works for all of us who have lived in East Africa. Ugali is a little different from other things like it, so I also think "ugali" is the best word to use for it in English.
It depends on what it is made of. Most ugali is made from maze meal, not millet. In south Nyanza province in Kenya, "ugali" made from millet was called "wimbi" 30-45 years ago, but that might have been a tribal word instead of Swahili -Kuria or Luo. Anyone know if wimbi is, in Swahili, a form of ugali?
I am back in Kenya now, and ugali made from millet flour, or a combination of millet, sorghum, and cassava flours is called "ugali ya wimbi".
Very few staples do taste ‘good’ on their own. They almost always are pretty bland and are eaten with tasty sauces/accompaniments of some kind. Have you tried arrowroot (taro) ........not the most inspiring carbohydrate!
I found ugali to be bland and heavy, but a great partner with salty, spicy stews and cooked vegetables, like "sukumawiki" (collard greens?) Yum!
And the difference between (ask and request people) and asking God (praying), the last of which was the only way I heard "kuomba" used in the 1970s and '80s in upcountry Kenya.
BTW, after the drought last year and the floods recently, there may well be many wanaomba ugali - "praying/asking God for ugali"!
Remember ugali from a restaurant in Kampala. I ordered it without experience and it was too much.