7 Common Nigerian Foods Challenging The Status Quo

7 Common Nigerian Foods Challenging The Status Quo 

Food business in Nigeria is a serious business, and because an hungry man is an angry man, Nigerians and creativity are 5 & 6.

Eating to us is an activity that requires planning and budgeting what we intend to buy or cook, going to the market or a restaurant to order what we want, but challenging the status quo is the least many would ever think of.

Imagine a Nigerian in a white-man country who goes to an African restaurant to order swallow and just plain Egusi soup.

The mindset is that eating local content for breakfast is not normal, but taking bread with tea or bread with eggs is better, in fact the best. The question is, who made these rules?

Generations to generations, they are being passed down, but when trends on mixing foods started, it were as though only those with “sapa" (moments where money is needed, but scarce) on their neck are risking their health. 

This is to the end that common meals we cook on a daily basis are now mixed with different kinds of dishes, popularly known as food combos.

These combinations are breaking the norm, because we're tired of cooking and eating the same food when we can always go wild about it.

While some people believe it's weird, because it's something new and something new is what they've never done before, is it bad?

Life is rippled with criticism, and we do so unconsciously, eating isn't exceptional.

Food combining didn't start now but has been since antiquity. Did I hear someone say, are you for real? Relax. This isn't art, it's science, so it's your choice to decide whether it's fact or fiction. 

Food combo has ancient roots in them and is a concept or philosophy of eating based on the idea that certain foods pair well, like eating yam and bread, spaghetti and beans, garri and indomie, etc.

Food combination principles first appeared in the Ayurvedic medicine of ancient India, but became widely known in the mid-1800s under the term “trophology" or “the science of food combining." 

The principles were brought back to life in the early 1990s by the Hay diet, named after Physician William Howard Hay, who lost 30 pounds in 3 months when he implemented his research.

These principles advocate eating or not eating certain foods together, like always eating fruits before, and not after a meal, avoid drinking cold water during a meal, and avoid eating starches and proteins together.

The belief is that improper combining food can have negative effects on health and digestion, but trust Nigerians to over-deliver, even when we know the rules and have learnt them, we love to break them.

For audacity to be broken, a voice has to be heard, and I believe it's high time to give certain foods a chance to shine. Life is too short to be eating boring foods, brethren.

We came up with 7 dishes that can never go wrong…

Indomie and Bread

Indomie is a brand name, but in Nigeria, every noodles is indomie, and is a common food that takes less time to be cooked and to be consumed, so as bread which is believe bread and indomie separately goes well with eggs, but would you rather replace those eggs to mix indomie and bread together? I guarantee you throatgasm because I've been there.

Bread and Egusi

Since we're still on this bread matter, Egusi is a local soup, mostly eaten by Yorubas and Igbos, and enjoyed with swallow as you rub the morsel of eba or semovita. Now, imagine having to dip a slice of bread into it, would you close your eyes or look away? If you ask me, it would be heavenly. If we can eat bread with red stew, why can't we eat Egusi?

Garri and Cake

Take your Garri drinking to the next level. Garri, being a life-saver cannot be overemphasized, because it's easy to drink with groundnuts, kulikuli or with beans. Cake has sugar and it's fluffy, munching it with Garri may not be a bad idea. You can even soak it in and you wouldn't miss on the taste it brings! Try something else with those floating berries of yours and see that the Lord is good.

Eba and Ketchup

Eba is one of the most easiest swallow to prepare, which sits well with any soup, be it okra, efo riro, egusi soup, etc. but in a situation where you wouldn't want to break the bank, using ketchup to support your eba can be fun and tantalizing, after all it's red in nature like the pepper you'd buy, grind/blend to cook for normal red stew. Sweetness overload.
KINDLY OVERLOOK THE PLANTAINS BESIDE????

Rice with Okra

Eating rice is the number one daily meal Nigerians can't do without and because it stereotypes white rice with red stew or vegetables on top, what's wrong with giving drawing soup a chance? Okra soup like ogbono is thick and slimy, enjoyed with swallow, be it fufu or pounded yam, mixing it with rice may not be what you're thinking if properly cooked. Enough of the usual stew all the time, justice for okra!

Shawarma with Ponmo Slices

It's time to stop that behavior of eating shawarma with chicken or shawarma with beef, what's wrong with eating ponmo shawarma? Isn't ponmo part of beef? Some Nigerians often like to play it safe when it comes to eating local content, that's why you're discriminating against ponmo. Free yourself from segregation, add ponmo to your shawarma today and live life.

Fried Yam and Ice Cream

Cooking Yam in a typical Nigerian home is one of the second most common meals, and is rationale that it should be eaten with beans, red stew, eggs, etc. but combining fried yams with ice cream is an immense feeling on its own. Take a little bite of the yam to wash it with a spoon of ice cream, the experience is in the taste.

Which of these do you think it's cool or nonsense? eat or pass?

Photo Credit: Images from Google