Uganda’s rolex is much more than a street food—it’s a national treasure

A rolex is a chapati (a flatbread made from dough) rolled around fried eggs to which have been added spices and vegetables. It’s usually cooked in a frying pan on a charcoal stove. It’s prepared on order and served very hot, usually in a paper wrapper, plastic bag, or plate.

The snack is common in Ugandan urban centers in east Africa. It’s mostly prepared on roadsides at informal stalls. Artisans may simply have a table for kneading the dough, a pan for frying the eggs and chapati, a charcoal stove as a heat source and the ingredients—which can vary widely.

The snack also has more elite makers who prepare it in restaurants or mobile kitchens that add cheese, pepper and butter, among other ingredients. Rolex is commonly sold alongside vendors offering chicken, chips, roasted meat, goat, pork and beer or soft drinks.

Rolex varies depending on the region and on the demands of the clientele and ingredients available to the ‘chef’—much like jollof rice in west Africa. For example, some rolexes can have two or more eggs. Some can have two chapatis. Some have cooked or raw vegetables. Others might include ‘Indian’, ‘Mexican’ or ‘Kenyan’ variants, which are marketed especially at rolex festivals.

This range of sizes and identities has created a diverse market, with varying prices and flavors. The nickname for a rolex can change accordingly. For example, it might be known as a double face (two eggs and two chapatis) or as a titanic (four eggs and two chapatis).

Beyond the street, rolex is made wherever people gather—be that weekly markets, funerals, prayer crusades, school events or political rallies.

The rolex is a symbol of national identity, the same way the Swiss watch is synonymous with Switzerland. It’s a Ugandan innovation and a symbol of nationalism. Ugandans traveling abroad are reported to long for a rolex and become homesick.

Rolex is a symbol of diplomacy. The increase in its price and reduction of its size due to wheat scarcity from the Ukraine-Russia war was the most significant way ordinary Ugandans felt the effects of the conflict. The rolex is a symbol of connection between Uganda’s urban and rural areas. People (often temporarily) move to find employment as rolex makers or suppliers of ingredients for them. The snack breaks class and cultural barriers. It’s consumed by the rich and the poor, the educated and the illiterate, by all ethnic groups and races.

But rolex kiosks also symbolize the poor organization of urban life in Uganda where the poor hustle to survive. Questions about food safety arise because the snack is made on the roadside and can easily come into contact with dirt. Authorities are guilty of failing to plan urban spaces to meaningfully advance the rolex businesses.

Ultimately, the rolex is used to tells the story of Uganda’s attempt to produce a unified identity around a ‘national meal’ that caters to a wide range of ethnic and social groups.