My Guide to Food – Exploring and Mapping intersections between Nigerian Cuisine and Foods of the World
It is the season of Bambara groundnuts which make world-famous, Okpa. People are ringing relatives in Enugu (where the best ones are made) to send some down west, south, north and all across Nigeria. I’m sure there have also been international requests fulfilled too. I’d never had it before – only heard from friends and […]
The first time I heard of a fruit with a name prefaced by ‘Monkey’ was in 2011, when I encountered ‘Epapa‘, which turned out to be one local name for Cola lepidota, aka Monkey Kola. It didn’t seem peculiar to me – I put it down to ‘things monkeys also ate in the forest’. Till […]
It is the season of pepperfruit. It is. I find them on trays all around Warri – my birth city, where I spend Easter. I’m a fan only of the red ones – sweet tooth and all. But back in Lagos, I spot the green ones and buy some to compare. What I find is […]
One way to enjoy fruits and veg in season – carrots, agbalumo, oranges – is to explore a variety of uses – fresh, cooked, preserved. I especially like pickles – they add bright flavour to dishes – a bit sour, tart, sharp even, not to mention the burst of colour. Pickling isn’t an oft-used preservation […]
Yayyy to progress…. Oh my word, the journey, to catalogue, standardize, document Nigerian cuisine never stops! After four years of cataloguing what’s in season and when across Nigeria, I’ve finally put together the first version of the first ever seasonal produce calendar for Nigerian fruits and vegetables. This is one of the tenets of the […]
So, a number of friends have told me about Iyeye, a particular orange fruit. Some have mistaken kumquats for it at first glance, similar as they are in colour, shape and size. One day at work, I had kumquats on my desk and T, my colleague came by. She tried one and was surprised it wasn’t […]
Fresh Cashews, pitanga cherries, mulberries, carrots, agbalumo, mangoes…these are a few things in seasons Cashews/ Cashew Apple Woo hoo, sooooooooooo happy to get my hands on some. Which I plan to juice, bake and do a host of other things. We shall see. Mulberries At least in the North of Nigeria, they’re in season. I […]
If you ever want to know what’s in season in Nigeria, look at the streets. You’ll see the colours set before you of all that’s fresh and gorgeous and right now, it’s a really long list: Tiger nuts This are my fruits/ nuts/ tubers of the season – I can see manyyyyyy explorations already, from drinks to […]
Carrots are in season. Here are 10 ways we’re eating and drinking them them: 1. Eat raw – washed, peeled, washed again and chomped on. Want some dipping sauces? Combine plain/ natural yogurt with curry powder and cilantro leaves, to taste 2. Grate and add to sandwich fillings, salads – cooked and raw, stir fries, rice […]