Lugbara cuisine is a type of food from East Africa and the historical Lado Enclave. The Lugbara people, who live in northwestern Uganda and northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, eat vegetable dishes and also consume animals such as goats, cows, and guinea fowl. They also collect insects like white ants or winged termites, which are called nyaka in the Lugbara language spoken in Arua. Cassava flour, sometimes mixed with millet or sorghum to make thick porridge-like dishes such as posho or ugali, is the main food and is called enya(sa) (kalo or atap(a) in Ateso, fufu in West Africa). It is served with various soup dishes. Other foods eaten include rice, yams, potatoes (including boiled or mashed dried mutere), and matoke, which is steamed or mashed bananas. Lugbara-style foods can be found in West Nile restaurants, Ariwara Town (DR Congo), Arua Park in Kampala (Uganda's capital), and in many homes and cafeterias that serve traditional Lugbara cuisine.

Beverages

These include anya i'di (millet porridge, sometimes mixed with groundnut (ala) or simsim paste (anyu)); lesu (milk); and maaku i'di (potato porridge, either fresh or dried but mashed), plus fruit juices like maize milk: Young maize is pounded, the juice squeezed out, and then boiled for drinking. It is not eaten whole like the Indians do. Mengu i'di (mango juice) is made by cooking the mango, then squeezing the juice as it cools and mixing it with sugar.

Ebe'de/Ibe'de is tea without sugar. The name comes from the action of scooping tea from a saucepan or large container during a gathering. It may also mean "self service" because people scoop their own tea. Kuruku chai (lemon grass) is washed and boiled in tea.

Kwete or kpete is the name for Lugbara beer. Sorghum is fermented using aku fi (yeast) to brew it. It is drunk after eating and helps with digestion, keeping the stomach healthy.

Okalitua is a very sour, colorless alcohol brewed from cassava, mainly by women, and drunk by men sitting in the sun after one drink of Camia.

Dishes and soups

The Lugbara ant cake is made from small white ants and is similar to ombangulu. Ants are usually trapped during the day, in the morning or evening. A flat, grassless mass of hard soil, like an anthill, is called amboroko. To trap the ants, a hole is dug, then mud is mixed and a dome is placed on top of the hole. While the ants gather in the raised mud, people sing "Kuru, kuru, kuru!" and beat a drum. An opening is made in the mud to let the ants out, and the drummer sings, "Bha ki ilulua ilu, ma ilu ku!" [Translation: "People are creating an opening, am not!"]. When the ants are scooped from the mud, they are pounded soft with their wings still on. Some people put them in leaves, boil them, and dry them until they harden. Otunyo (Yesterday's white ants) are pressed into an otaku pot. After two days, when it ferments and smells, it is pressed with a ladle. Leaves are then added to the pot. This dish can be mixed with food like agobi (fresh pumpkin leaves chopped and prepared). It is not used with beans or meat. Akuruma is collected in the mornings, and there is often loud noise from empty tins, jerrycans, and jingles. Ifu/Ofu is gathered in the late afternoon (3–4pm) with children singing. Ica is the last type collected before dusk (6–7pm).

Boiled dry maize and beans, a popular breakfast dish, is called anyoy(i)a in the Alur language of Nebbi and means "fermented." It is also called empengere in Luganda. Anyoya is prepared at night for morning consumption. It is the staple food for the Japadhola people in Eastern Uganda, who are ethnically linked to the Alur of West Nile and the Luo of Kenya. In Arua Town, some people call it "mix" and may add fried onions in oil. Angarawa or angaraba [in Terego dialect] refers to skinless beans that are slightly fried or cooked and mixed with g-nut paste. The Kikuyu in Kenya call it githeri, and a story is told about a traditional elder who was happy to find githeri at a function and filled his plate with it.

Besides chickens, guineafowl, ducks (mbata), and turkeys (kulu kulu), the Lugbara raise and hunt other birds, such as pigeons (amamu), weaverbirds, and sparrows, using a Y-shaped sling called abudira or abidira. This tradition inspired a Luganda song titled "Akanyonyi Akalugwara" (A Lugbara Bird). In a household, the father gives the gizzard to his eldest child or another child he chooses.

Au gbe (chicken eggs) are boiled or fried and added to a different sauce if not prepared with groundnut paste or onions and tomatoes.

Banda bi (cassava leaves), called pandu in DR Congo, can be mixed with i'bi (fish, preferably dry), ngenjia (small silver fish), or eza (minced meat).

Maru are large white mushrooms that grow near anthills. Other mushrooms may grow where cooked cereals are dumped.

Angara, ngenjia, and tilapia are the most common fish eaten by the Lugbara in West Nile. Nzikinziki is a Madi dish made from fish with the bones removed, mashed, and cooked in groundnut paste. It is especially well-known in Adjumani.

Soft animal parts, such as liver and hump, are given to the elderly because they cannot eat hard foods but should remain comfortable. Skilled youth weigh pieces of goat meat or mutton with both hands until they are equal, then distribute them during slaughter. Putuku (also called mulokoni) is the leg of a cow. In Vurra – the Orchard of West Nile, au (chicken) combined with ago (pumpkin) is a special dish. Others enjoy ope (guineafowl), which the Lugbara used to raise in Uganda. Indian curry can be added to spice it up. Pork is a very popular meat in modern times and can attract many people to a village sale. Lugbaras now raise pigs more than before. In Terego, edible rats called omba omba hide in underground holes and are hunted for food. After removing the intestines, the rats are dried and cooked. Rabbits and game meat are also eaten.

Fi is a dish made from intestines, called baka (rope) or ebyenda by the Bantu.

Iribi (vegetables/greens) include osubi (bean leaves, also called gobe), murabi (a type of mundrokolo or mundrokole), agobi (pumpkin leaves), ijiribi, itobi, okaka bi, alukutubi (creeping greens), asuaka, malakwang (popular in northern Uganda), biringanya (eggplant), nyanya (tomatoes), ntula (green berries), awubi, banda bi (cassava leaves), kili wiri, pala bi (jute leaves), jambala (beans and greens without g-nut paste), bamia (okra), murukulu (okra with g-nut stew), alutukubi, jupa, nakati, atrebi-okaka bi, orukwa (a type of dodo greens), njarunjaru (greens and beans), osu nyirikia bi (leaves of tiny beans), French beans, sukuma wiki, and kebeji (cabbages). Waarla is mundrokole without beans.

This dish is made from unripe bananas, lamb, calf, or other animals. Indians prepare a similar dish using unripe maize.

Beans with their skins on, kaiko burusu (peas), mundrokole added, ala (

Seasoning and appetisers

Coriander is called dania in the Lugbara language. The small leaves are cooked with food to add flavor. Another way to use them is to chop them into smaller pieces and add them raw when the food is ready.

It is also called ofutaku. This ingredient is made by burning dried bean pods, banana peels, and other materials. The ashes are mixed with water, then filtered to create a brown liquid. This liquid is used to cook greens like osubi, which helps keep their green color. Aitipa (sometimes spelled a'itipa) comes from certain plants. Women may spend an entire day collecting salty leaves, even from valleys. After collecting, the leaves are left in the sun to dry and then burned. Magadi can be used instead of salt. It is found in water, such as at Kibiro on the northern shore of Lake Albert. The name likely comes from Lake Magadi in Tanzania, which is known for being salty.

Garlic, red or green pepper, and chillies like muni are also used to add flavor to food.

There are two main ways to cook greens: boiling and frying. Frying helps keep the juicy taste of the leaves. Wash the greens, such as nakati, in a small basin or saucepan. Pour out the dirty water, then fry the greens in oil that has been flavored with onions and green pepper. Tomatoes, carrots, and boiled eggs can also be added. Do not add water, as it might make the food less fresh. Add salt only after the greens have shrunk.

Boiling removes the sharp, juicy taste from greens, but the Lugbara people find ways to make their food sweet. They may add ofutaku, magadi, or a'itipa early in cooking to keep the leaves green. Sweeteners like avocado, kamura odu (a type of edible oil from tree bark), and sesame oil are also used at the table.

Black Harmony (Arua), a Lugbara music duo, sings about ala/anyu (groundnut/sesame paste, also called odii by the Acholi) in their song "Adia." The lyrics tell a woman named "Adia" to prepare "mutere" (sliced and sun-dried cassava or potatoes) with a side dish of atra bi, awu bi, pala bi, agobi, or dodo. These dishes are sweetened with a little ala (groundnut paste) and ai (salt).

Sometimes, chicken is marinated in eggs before being fried.

Snacks

These include groundnuts, soya seeds, jackfruit seeds, and pumpkin seeds. They are roasted and eaten during tea time.

These are grasshoppers that move from place to place each year around April and November. Ombi (locusts) can cause harm in areas near South Sudan. Some types are poisonous and not allowed to be eaten, but others are fried and eaten as a way to control their population.

This tuber has a brown outside and a soft white inside. It grows on trees as a climbing plant and has a taste similar to yam.

This was an underground tuber that grew long but is now extinct. When its skin was removed, it became white and very sweet. It was once eaten a long time ago, but other foods like sweet potatoes became more common, so lumboo was no longer used.

Maracha bread (mukati) is a snack made completely from maize. It is eaten during tea time. Maize grains are ground on a flat stone or in a mortar. Then, the ground maize is wrapped in a leaf, like the leaves of a banana plant, and boiled. This is similar to a dish called luwombo among the Baganda, but instead of chicken, pounded maize is boiled to form a block or oval shape. When ready, the mass is taken out and eaten with tea or coffee. A Lugbara saying states: "Kaka ni ka 'ba sikokori ni indi" (Maize ripens for people without teeth also). In addition to being used in posho, anyoya, kelo, and roasting, this is another local way to prepare maize, for example in Ojapi Parish.

When sweet potatoes or cassava are cut into smaller pieces, dried in the sun for several days, and later boiled or prepared in other ways, they keep their sweetness. Itesots call this food amukeke.

Fried white ants are also eaten as snacks, similar to grasshoppers and certain locusts.

These are formica wood ants that are found near anthill mounds. When cooked, they have a crunchy texture.

Traditional Lugbara mealtime includes:
• O'biti (Morning): 7–8 AM
• Anya i'di: 10–11 AM
• Nyaka itua: 12–2 PM
• Asileri ibe'de: 8–9 PM