When my 7 year old daughter talks about Nigeria and going back, one of the things on the top of her list is Suya. My 4 year old doesn’t remember the absolutely delicious bits of spiced beef on sticks, cooked over hot coals by specialists – men from the northern part of Nigeria, where this is their trademark. Suya is one of those things which Nigerians in diaspora miss, just like the Dutch yearn for dropjes and stroopwaffels! And if you dig further, you’ll find most people have jars of suya spice in their pantries. I got my mum to bring me a small sack of the stuff which is stashed in the deep freezer!

Though the experts are from the North you’ll find them all over the country. Usually every area in a town will have a ‘suya spot’, with its ‘Malam’, a name for the owner or controller of the joint. All day, every day, you’ll see the suya spots rife with activity from early morning till dusk, when orange trails blaze the skies with the setting of the sun.

Photo credit: Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP/Getty Images

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