Price of Uganda’s favorite fast food surges due to soaring grain costs

By Hamza Kyeyune

KAMPALA, Uganda (AA) - A popular food item in Uganda called Rolex, which CNN recently ranked as the fastest-growing new African fast food, is becoming scarce due to rising grain costs.

Many countries in Africa, including Uganda, rely on wheat exports from Ukraine and Russia to supplement their local food sources.

Russia supplied 33% of Uganda’s wheat in 2020, while Ukraine supplied 17%, according to the United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database (UN Comtrade), while Uganda shipped stripped tobacco (leaf) and coffee to Russia.

Russia's military operation in Ukraine disrupted global supply chains, and a scarcity of the vital grain has caused wheat prices to surge. Many bakers have now raised the cost of their products and Ugandans are feeling the pinch of the war, which is around 5,229 kilometers (3,249 miles) away.

A Rolex is a simple combination of an egg omelet and vegetables wrapped in a chapatti, a tortilla-like flatbread, which is ready to eat. The fast food is omnipresent in local daily life, accessible on any street and very affordable.

As you walk along the streets of any place in Uganda, you see Rolex stalls with high raised charcoal stoves and fire burning from dawn to dusk.

There is always someone flipping chapatis on the hot frying pan while the other is chopping vegetables and whisking eggs to be fried. The fried eggs and vegetables are then rolled into one or two chapatis, and a Rolex is made. The name is a play on the phrase “rolled eggs.”

Unable to bear the rising cost of the basic elements of Rolex, the sellers have increased the price, pushing the burden onto their customers.

“I have been forced to increase the price of a Rolex in tandem with the skyrocketing costs of wheat and (cooking) oil. My customers are not happy, but I have no choice,” Waiswa Muna, a baker, told Anadolu Agency.

“We call on the government to intervene at least through exempting bakers from the 18% value added tax,” he said.

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni recently said the government will not intervene in the rising commodity prices and advised Ugandans to eat cassava instead of wheat in order to weather the economic storm.

Other sellers have resorted to reducing the size and ingredients to make ends meet.

"I tried increasing the price. My customers came here and said they did not have that kind of money. So I have reduced the size and maintained the old price," Tenywa Jamil, a baker in Kampala, told Anadolu Agency.

He said that several of his customers have expressed their dismay over how their favorite fast food has shrunk in size and lost its mouthwatering taste.

“While some are still making good with the reduced size, others are complaining that the popular staple food is not filling their stomachs anymore and have now opted for alternative foodstuffs like cassava,” he said.

Many students Anadolu Agency spoke to also expressed their disappointment over the dwindling size of Uganda’s most popular fast food.

“I am a student and generally keep to a tight budget, as I am good at keeping on top of things. I always have a budget drawn up. Budgeting always helps me know how much money I would have to spend in a certain period, and I do not need to ask my parents for extra money to cover my expenses. However, now, my financial life is a bit of a disaster. My favorite dish, Rolex, which was enough for my dinner, is no longer enough. I literally sleep on an empty stomach. The decreased size makes life hard for me. I have to buy more to feel satisfied, which again is quite expensive for me,” said Lucy, a student at Kampala International University.

The Rolex is popular in Uganda because it is affordable and provides essential nutrients. In 2007, the Ugandan government started fortifying wheat and cooking oil after it was determined that nearly 70% of the country’s residents were deficient in key vitamins and minerals because they couldn’t afford fish, eggs, meat and milk. In response, 95% of vegetable oil is now fortified with vitamin A, and 40% of flour is fortified with iron.

For many years, Rolexes were mostly eaten by people on tight budgets together with students at universities and not by the elite class because they were considered street food, too cheap and unhygienic. But the delicacy has since evolved to attract the elite class, making its way onto the menus of five-star hotels and restaurants and the snack is now served on the national carrier, Uganda Airlines. The government recently marketed it as one of its tourist attractions. Although the Rolex was initially made with eggs, nowadays, the ingredients have been diversified. One can have a Rolex with beef, chicken or beans. All you have to do is name it, and you will have it. The price starts from about $0.27 downtown and can run as high as $12 at upscale establishments.

Globally, Rolex is a prestigious watch brand synonymous with luxury and success. But in Uganda, a Rolex doesn’t only stand for a fancy, expensive watch but a delicious snack, and here a proverb is derived: “In Uganda, we don’t wear Rolexes, we eat them.”