Cooking lights

If you’ve been perusing through the Gazette’s culinary conquests, you’ll notice their notable absence of breakfast articles, especially when compare to snacks, entrees and full meals. The straightforward answer for this oversight is that I am not a breakfast consumer and, when in Walt Disney World, I am usually on the go and not willing to stop for a meal until midmorning or midday. There are, however, one or two exceptions to my hard and fast rule of leaving breakfast in the dust. One such meal sends me to the outskirts of known guest areas and into the depths of Animal Kingdom Lodge.

A boma is a shelter, a Kraal style fence constructed of sticks. In the case of Boma at Animal Kingdom Lodge, the stick fencing appears throughout the restaurant sectioning off the dining areas (much in the way a farmer would separate various animal groups) and buffet stations. This detail is oftentimes overlooked by guests focusing on the lighting elements, gorgeous chairs and tables, faux thatched roofs and the food itself. Speaking of food…The menu of Boma at breakfast time is not set in stone, leaving the chefs and cooks the option of using fresh ingredients. There are, however, meal staples, the breads and other starches, vegetables, fruits, and meats that are ever-present along the buffet. Scattered about the winding smorgasbord one the day I visited, I found pap (white cornmeal), Chakalaka (spicy stewed tomatoes and onions), roasted corned beef, ham, sambal, Boma mustard, African spiced corned beef hash, and turkey bobotie (ground turkey with spices and egg custard). For the less adventurous diner, Boma offers quinoa, oatmeal, ham, sausages, two types of scrambled eggs, scones, croissants, banana bread, cinnamon rolls, assorted muffins, yogurt and assorted fruit. There is also a make your own omelet section, though not being a fan of eggs myself, I bypass this area each and every time.Savory is definitely the heavily favored taste of Boma. Sweet is used sparingly, almost as a cooling element to the salty and spicy of the majority of meal components. Rather than go dish by dish, which could take me weeks (an exquisitely excruciating thought), how about we just tempt you with these two plates I piled high into my gullet?For beverages, Boma offers coffee, milk, and juice. However, to truly complete the experience of dining at Boma, one should partake in West African Frunch. The sweet concoction contains a mixture of lemonade and pineapple, orange, guava and papaya juices.All in all, not being a breakfast person, I have gladly missed my fair share of rope drops in order to participate in the morning feeding ritual at Boma. Perhaps my fascination with this breakfast is rooted in the fact that, while it is indeed a morning meal, it is infused with the sharp flavors I love and can generally only find during lunch and dinner. While it may be bit of an expedition to reach Boma, it is well worth the journey!