Ugandan Homemade Drink Threatened by Bill, Market Changes

Ugandan Homemade Drink Threatened by Bill, Market Changes

乌干达的自制饮料受到法案和市场变化的威胁

【听力音频】

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　　By Anna Matteo

　　05 January 2024

　　Lawmakers in Uganda are considering barring people from making a popular alcoholic drink at home.

　　The bill being considered would affect people like the Ndyanabo family.

　　At least once a week, Girino Ndyanabo's family gathers around a hole in the ground where bananas have been left to ripen. The family then peels the bananas and puts them into a wooden container shaped like a boat. The father steps in with his bare feet. The sweet banana juice he presses out is then filtered. To this he adds sorghum. The juice is then left to ferment for up to a day. This process changes the juice into an alcoholic drink.

　　The result is the home-brewed drink Ugandans call tonto, or tontomera. This word describes a drinker's poor movements.

　　Tonto is famous in Uganda. Everyone drinks it – from officials to laborers. Singers sing about it. Politicians seeking office drink it with voters. And traditional ceremonies end at sunset with tonto parties.

　　However, there are threats to the way tonto is currently produced. More people are now drinking low-cost bottled beer. Health officials want rules to limit the risks from contaminated home brews. And officials want to get tax income from the production and sale of the drink.

　　The bill in the national assembly seeks to set rules for the production and sale of alcohol. It would make the activities of home brewers of tonto a crime. It would also make the production of other traditional home brews in the East African country a crime.

　　But farmers have a more urgent concern: Not enough new banana juice cultivars are being planted to produce the drink.

　　Instead, more farmers are planting a different sort of banana. This kind is boiled and eaten as a popular dish called matooke.

　　Girino Ndyanabo farms in the western district of Mbarara. His first experience with tonto was as a little boy in the 1970s. He said he has only a few plants left of the cultivars he uses to make tonto.

　　He gets his bananas from farmers near him until he can fill the small pit on his farm. The natural underground heat ripens the bananas within days as he prepares for the weekly pressing. The event is important in the family's daily life because they sell tonto.

　　Ndyanabo said his weekly brew has regular buyers. But in recent years, he has seen both demand and supply slow. This is partly because the sale price of tonto has been largely unchanged for many years.

　　However, the process of brewing it has become more difficult. Tonto brewers must travel farther for their bananas. Also, the price of sorghum has gone up.

　　"You take a lot of time doing this work. It's not as easy as someone who cuts matooke, puts it on a bicycle and sells it for cash immediately," Ndyanabo said of the green bananas that are eaten raw by most Ugandans. The bananas used for alcohol come from very far, he added.

　　To help this situation, he has been trying to plant more of the banana juice cultivars. They grow faster. And his son, Mathias Kamukama, helps.

　　The family makes five or six 20-liter jerricans for each brewing. A jerrican's worth sells for about $8. A half-liter of tonto sells for about 27 cents, compared to 67 cents for the cheapest bottled beer.

　　Benson Muhereza is an electrician who regularly visits a small drinking place in a poor neighborhood of Mbarara.

　　"It (is) like a favorite drink when you have your lunch. It (is) like a juice. When you don't want to take beer, you come and have your tonto," Muhereza said.

　　He said it does not make him feel bad or cause his head to hurt.

　　Christine Kyomuhangi sells tonto. She said she receives two jerricans of the brew every day. She knows her business is at risk because of the bill. But she smiled, saying buyers come from all over the city.

　　"Tonto will never get finished," she added, meaning tonto will survive all of these challenges.

　　I'm Anna Matteo.

　　Rodney Muhumuza reported this story for the Associated Press. Anna Matteo adapted this story for VOA Learning English.

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　　作者：Anna Matteo

　　2024年1月5日

　　乌干达的立法者正在考虑禁止人们在家制作一种受欢迎的酒精饮料。

　　正在考虑的这项法案将影响像Ndyanabo家族这样的人。

　　至少每周一次，Girino Ndyanabo的家人会围在一个地洞旁，那里放着待熟的香蕉。然后，家人会剥去香蕉皮，将香蕉放入一个形状像船的木制容器中。父亲赤脚踩进去。他压出的甜香蕉汁然后被过滤。他在其中加入高粱。然后，将果汁放置发酵一天。这个过程将果汁变成了一种酒精饮料。

　　这就是乌干达人称之为tonto或tontomera的家酿酒。这个词描述的是饮酒者的不稳定动作。

　　Tonto在乌干达非常有名。从官员到劳工，人人都喝它。歌手们会唱关于它的歌。寻求公职的政治家会和选民一起喝它。传统的庆典在日落时以tonto派对结束。

　　然而，tonto目前的生产方式面临着威胁。现在有更多的人开始喝低成本的瓶装啤酒。卫生官员希望制定规则，限制受污染的家酿酒带来的风险。官员们也希望从这种饮料的生产和销售中获取税收。

　　国民议会的这项法案旨在为酒精的生产和销售设定规则。它将使家酿tonto的行为成为犯罪。它还将使东非国家其他传统家酿酒的生产成为犯罪。

　　但是，农民们有一个更紧迫的问题：没有足够的新的香蕉汁种植品种来生产这种饮料。

　　相反，越来越多的农民正在种植另一种香蕉。这种香蕉被煮熟后，成为一种叫做matooke的受欢迎的菜肴。

　　Girino Ndyanabo在Mbarara的西部地区种植农作物。他第一次接触tonto是在1970年代的时候，当时他还是个小男孩。他说，他用来制作tonto的种植品种只剩下几株。

　　他从附近的农民那里获取香蕉，直到他能填满农场上的小坑。地下的自然热量在几天内使香蕉成熟，他为每周的压榨做准备。这个活动在家庭的日常生活中很重要，因为他们要销售tonto。

　　Ndyanabo说，他每周的酿酒有固定的买家。但是，近年来，他看到需求和供应都在放缓。这部分原因是因为tonto的销售价格多年来基本没有变化。

　　然而，酿造它的过程变得更加困难。Tonto的酿造者必须走更远的路去找他们的香蕉。此外，高粱的价格也上涨了。

　　"你花了很多时间做这项工作。这并不像剥了皮的matooke那样简单，把它放在自行车上，立即就能卖掉换现金，"Ndyanabo谈到大多数乌干达人食用的生香蕉。他补充说，用于酿酒的香蕉来自很远的地方。

　　为了改善这种情况，他一直试图种植更多的香蕉汁种植品种。它们生长得更快。他的儿子Mathias Kamukama也在帮忙。

　　每次酿造，这个家庭会制作五或六个20升的大桶。一个大桶的价值大约是8美元。半升的tonto售价约为27美分，而最便宜的瓶装啤酒售价为67美分。

　　Benson Muhereza是一名电工，他经常去Mbarara一个贫穷社区的小酒吧。

　　"当你吃午餐时，它（tonto）就像是你最喜欢的饮料。它就像果汁。当你不想喝啤酒时，你可以来喝你的tonto，"Muhereza说。

　　他说它不会让他感到不舒服或头疼。

　　Christine Kyomuhangi是一名tonto的销售员。她说她每天都会收到两大桶的酿酒。她知道因为这项法案，她的生意处于风险之中。但她微笑着说，买家们来自全城各地。

　　"tonto永远不会消失，"她补充说，意思是tonto将在所有这些挑战中存活下来。

　　我是Anna Matteo。

　　Rodney Muhumuza为美联社报道了这个故事。Anna Matteo为VOA学习英语改编了这个故事。

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　　这个故事中的词汇

　　ripen –v. 当水果准备好吃的时候

　　filter –v.使用过滤器从液体中去除固体物质

　　peel –v.从水果或蔬菜中去除皮肤

　　ferment –v. 处理某些食物，如水果或谷物，使酵母分解植物中的淀粉以制造酒精；通过添加细菌改变食物的质量

　　brew –v. 向食物中添加微生物以改变其性质并将其保存到未来的某个时间

　　contaminated –adj.包含不应该存在的东西

　　cultivar - n 园丁或农民种植的几种密切相关植物的其中一种版本

　　jerrican –n. 一种容器，侧面平坦，通常用于携带液体