In August 2018, Kampala hosted Uganda’s third Rolex festival. The name did not refer to a watch: a rolex is an omelette rolled in chapati, its nickname echoing “rolled eggs.” The Monitor’s report directly records customers queuing for food while music played across the festival site.
The snack originated in Busoga and spread among students at Makerere University, where it was filling and affordable at about 1,000 Ugandan shillings. At the festival, Indian, Mexican and Kenyan chefs offered their own versions. A food sometimes dismissed as a poor person’s supper was being presented as a tourist attraction and national dish. The queue therefore marked more than service order: it showed street food being publicly recast as cultural pride.