Ombangulu: Lugbara pizza that reminds us of good times in the village

One of these dishes is Ombangulu, which literally means "toughened/compacted together" and is also regarded as 'Lugbara pizza'. It is made from pounded white ants (onya) harvested from anthills (otoko), salt and banana leaves.

But the process of making this pizza starts immediately after the sun sets and lasts until the last harvest at 6:00 am.

The first harvest is called ondreondre, it takes place between 7:00 pm and 8:30 pm. The second harvest is called api and happens between 11:00 pm and midnight on a different anthill mound, and the last one is called egbere and happens between 4:30 am and 6:00 am.

Ombangulu is made from the ants of the last harvest.

During the ant migration season, especially after a downpour, gatherers set out with oil lamps to anthills (known as ebiswa in central Uganda) and start digging holes near them. The oil lamps, or lit dry grass, are then placed inside these freshly dug holes to draw the ants out of the anthill.

Sometimes palm tree leaves are used to collect them then they are put into containers. On arriving home, they are steamed and left out to dry.

The harvest is similar to the grasshopper harvest that was common around Kampala back in the day. Grasshoppers would flood streetlights and surrounding grass fields in the evenings and gatherers would catch them till the late hours of the night.

When the onya are dry, they wings are plucked off and stones are removed in preparation of ombangulu. The harvest is divided into two, the ones for the market and those to make Ombangulu.

To make the Lugbara pizza, the sorted onya is pounded, salt is added into the mix and then the compacted onya are put in banana leaves to be cooked.