My Guide to Food – Exploring and Mapping intersections between Nigerian Cuisine and Foods of the World
This piece is long overdue – sigh but finally, it’s here. Agbalumo is out of season but still…the words, the thought, the ideas remain evergreen! Thank you, Akay xxx I grew up in an Igbo household in Lagos. And while steeped in Igbo culture, I have always been around and influenced by Yoruba culture. I […]
It might surprise you – like it did I – that there are different varieties (or cultivars/ cultivated varieties?) of Agbalumo, distinct in shape, colour and size. Many factors come into play in describing fruit. On the basis of a number of observations, I dare say I can identify at least 6 varieties – here we […]
Read on. For years, I’ve heard, read, experienced sweeter agbalumos after the first rains. My most recent memory is from 2015. We’re driving in the car one day and we stop to buy some. A, my adopted daughter says: ‘There are always a few rains before ‘Agbalumo’ proper comes into season’ And I responded, ‘Hmmm, I didn’t […]
Well, y’all know my love for Agbalumo. And cucumbers…Which got me thinking once I’d made my Cucumber gin, that a G & T would be nice since I sometimes mix my Agbaulmo drinks with soda or tonic water to lighten them. A gin and tonic is a highball cocktail made with gin and tonic water […]
I am a believer that if certain fruits and vegetables are in season together, they are meant to be combined – within reasonable bounds of course. Though what’s reasonable to me, might strike another as not. This case for an Agbalumo-soursop drink was really easy. Not only were they in season together but I’ve made […]
‘Nigerian Seasonal Produce’ is a monthly column which will be published on the last Saturday of every month. In this column, a writer explores a specific seasonal fruit, vegetable or leafy green assigned by the editors of Kitchen Butterfly and based on the Nigerian Seasonal Produce Calendar. Our author this month is Keside Anosike – writer extraordinary who teases me […]
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 […]
There are many reasons I love technology and social media – hashtags are one of them. Hashtags are the strongest indication that we are similar in all the ways we are different. A few months ago, I hashtagged a photo on instagram, #starapple and then I clicked on it and discovered a whole world out […]
It’s the season of my favourite ‘fruit to explore’ – Agbalumo aka the African star apple. The star apple is found in many Caribbean and South East Asian countries, including Jamaica. Around the world in star apples Around the world in star apple names Why am I so intrigued about this fruit one might wonder? […]