Waragi is to Ugandans what tequila is to Mexicans, vodka is to Russians, and Diet Coke is to Sarah Palin. I bought a bottle during a stopover at Entebbe airport, and conducted a video taste test when I got to Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. I’d been in the backcountry under rough conditions for a couple of weeks when I recorded this, which might explain my enthusiasm.
The stuff is rotgut – which isn’t meant to diminish the importance of bananas in Uganda, which are used not just for hooch, but as a primary source of calories. People would starve without them, and the fruit is threatened by disease, making the nation ground zero for banana research.
Still, you could run a moped on this stuff. Which is more than you could say for Diet Coke.
Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman 
