Nigerian food

Starting the trip to Norway, it is 1 p.m. and you are getting hungry so what should you do? You’ll probably want to look for some typical Nigerian food. Well, I can tell you that it is not so easy to find!

Nigeria knows so many kinds of different people and cultures it is difficult to choose one national, traditional dish. The regional favorites depend on traditions, customs or religion. Also seasons tend to have an influence while not all kinds of foods/ingredients are available in each season. Fruits, however, you can enjoy every day of the year. The biggest part of Nigeria lies in the tropics, that makes it possible to enjoy popular fruits like grapefruits, mangoes and bananas.

Food recipes in Nigeria are mainly a selection of semi solid doughs or boiled servings prepared from plantain, yam, beans, maize, rice, served with a stew or a delicious Nigerian soup. In the morning Nigerian people often choose a light breakfast, for example Masa made from soaked rice. This is then poured into clay forms which are heated from beneath. It is traditionally served with miyan taushe. Other dishes Nigerians enjoy in the morning are yams with red stew or scrambled eggs with tomato and onion. In my opinion Western people are more likely to eat the second dish because of the well-known eggs.

Nigeria is divided into two different parts: the northern part and the eastern part. In the northern part, most people are Muslim (this belief prohibits eating pork). Nigerian Muslims have diets based on beans, types of grain and brown rice. Some of them like to eat meat in the form of kebabs. To drink, Muslims like tea and that makes the coffeehouses a popular place to meet new people. The eastern people eat gari (cassava powder), pumpkins and yams which is a replacement for potatoes. The African yams are pale, barely sweet and are not easy to find in our supermarkets.

So…, it is already 2 p.m. time to eat!

Sources:

http://www.foodbycountry.com/Kazakhstan-to-South-Africa/Nigeria.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigerian_cuisine

http://www.africanfoods.co.uk/nigerian-food.html

http://www.nigerianfoodtv.com/2012/05/nigerian-food-recipes.html