Craig’s last trip to Uganda was nearly twenty-five years ago, when he bicycled with a few other travelers through rural villages, staying at local hotels, eating in local restaurants, and visiting schools and similar institutions. He remembers the country from those days with great fondness: the kindness and hospitality of the people, the beautiful tropical landscapes — and the pineapples! Uganda, he stated unequivocally, has the best pineapples in the world.

Now that we were traveling through Uganda together, this was something I had to experience for myself! So Craig asked our guide to buy us some fresh pineapples from a roadside stand. Hassan stopped the van, picked out from the crowd of vendors who had surrounded our vehicle the woman selling the best-looking fruit, and bought five beautiful pineapples for 5,000 shillings — about thirty cents apiece. The other sellers turned away forlorn, and we headed off with our prize.

Have pineapple, will travel

A little farther down the road, Hassan stopped at a likely spot, and proceeded to peel and carve the ripest and most promising of the pineapples into perfect slices, which we three then gobbled up in equal parts greed and enjoyment — and much slurping, as we tried in vain to keep the juice from dribbling down our chins and onto our shirtfronts. But, OMG, Craig was right: this was by far the most delicious pineapple I had ever tasted!

We repeated this little scenario frequently over the course of our trip, each time appreciating Hassan’s dextrous skinning and dismembering of this succulent fruit. Eventually we (meaning Craig) had the happy notion of recording Hassan as he demonstrated his expert-pineapple-carver moves.

Hassan took up the challenge, facing down the pineapple with nonchalance and carving it with dexterity. Then things got a little out of hand… Check it out!

The ubiquitous pineapple

We saw pineapple fields only in western Uganda, but these fruits were sold by roadside vendors all over the country. Often we spied boda bodas (motorbikes) loaded down with pineapples, doubtless on their way to market.

Pineapple is an inevitable part of the breakfasts served to tourists in Uganda. Every morning, our meal began with fresh juice and a plate of fruit: watermelon, banana, perhaps papaya, and always pineapple. It was so good that I started asking for pineapple only.

We also ate it in wrapped in crêpes, upside-down in cake, and in whatever other concoctions those inventive cooks could imagine. But wherever and however else we ate it, nothing ever matched the sheer deliciousness of Hassan’s freshly cut pineapples, consumed with gleeful gluttony by the side of the road.

• Tracking mountain gorillas in Uganda
• All postcards from our 2021 Africa trip
• Postcards from our 2019 Africa trip