Local Drinks

1. Mwenge bigere

   Mwenge bigere (banana beer pressed with the feet)

   Usage

   The traditional Ganda banana beer. lg.wikipedia says the juice is pressed from banana (embidde) with the feet, mixed with millet (omuwemba) and fermented, hence "foot beer". It is drunk at ceremonies such as funeral rites

   Grammar Note

   Mwenge is omwenge (beer) with its initial vowel (augment) dropped. lg.wikipedia says "Abaganda oluusi baguyita mwenge bigere" (the Baganda sometimes call it foot beer). bigere is "feet".

2. Waragi

   Waragi (Ugandan gin)

   Usage

   Uganda's distilled spirit. Uganda Waragi is the best-known brand and, per lg.wikipedia, about 40 percent alcohol by volume.

   Grammar Note

   The dictionary spells it walagi (gin = walagi). lg.wikipedia writes waragi as the brand name, which is the form used here.

3. Bbiya

   Bbiya (beer)

   Usage

   The loanword for (bottled) beer. lg.wikipedia uses it when writing about Ugandan breweries such as Nile Breweries

   Grammar Note

   A loan from English "beer" with the doubled b. Wikivoyage has the same form in "Bbiya bbiri, nsaba" (two beers, please). Traditional alcohol is omwenge.

4. Sooda

   Sooda (soft drink, soda)

   Usage

   A bottled soft drink. lg.wikipedia uses the word sooda when writing about soft-drink companies and similar topics

   Grammar Note

   A loan from English "soda", spelled with a long oo. Wikivoyage writes Coke as "Soda wa Coke".

5. Kwete

   Kwete (fermented millet or maize beer)

   Usage

   A grain beer made especially by the Lugbara of West Nile. lg.wikipedia says it is fermented from millet or maize and is sold and drunk from a pot (kita, endeku)

   Grammar Note

   The lg.wikipedia article is titled Kwete and notes the variant Kpete. It is not a Luganda word but a name from northern languages.

6. Tonto

   Tonto (a traditional alcoholic drink of the west)

   Usage

   A traditional alcoholic drink of the west. lg.wikipedia's article on the Bakonjo names Tonto as the drink the groom's side brings in marriage custom. It is said to be made from banana, which lg sources do not confirm

   Grammar Note

   Not a Luganda word but a name from western languages. It is not something you would ordinarily order in Buganda.

7. Omubisi

   Omubisi (banana juice, juice)

   Usage

   The word for pressed juice. The dictionary gives juice (banana) = omubisi, and lg.wikipedia calls the pressed juice before brewing omubisi. The same word is used in "omubisi gw'enjuki" (honey)

   Grammar Note

   The same word means honey in omubisi gw'enjuki, so the fruit is added with gw' (of), as in omubisi gw'emicungwa (orange juice).

8. Omubisi gw'emicungwa

   Orange juice

   Usage

   The noun phrase for asking for orange juice. It appears in Wikivoyage, and lg.wikipedia also has an example of this form

   Grammar Note

   gw' is the "of" agreeing with omubisi (mu- class), and emicungwa is the plural of omucungwa (orange).

9. Emmwanyi

   Emmwanyi (coffee beans, the coffee crop)

   Usage

   Coffee beans and the crop. Uganda is a coffee-growing country, and lg.wikipedia calls Masaka a major emmwanyi district. Coffee as a drink is kaawa

   Grammar Note

   In the dictionary, coffee (the bean, the crop) = emmwanyi. lg.wikipedia text wavers between emmwaanyi and emmwanyi; the dictionary and Wikivoyage form is used.

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