Nigerian food is certainly enjoying an unexpected spike in popularity lately.
From Korean-style speed-eating ‘mukbang’ challenges on Youtube, to ‘#fufu’ videos being viewed more than a staggering 250 million times on Tiktok, food from Nigeria really has gone viral.
Even Masterchef UK contestant Victor Ofunime Okunowo whipped up Egusi soup and amala ‘pasta’ on TV for the judges late last year.
So it appears to be great timing for British-educated Nigerian businesswoman extraordinaire Tola Akerele to publish the highly-anticipated The Orishirishi Cookbook.
Her mission is to make the cuisine of her homeland accessible to all, and she promises an informative exploration of beloved Nigerian dishes that are relatively unknown internationally… until now.
Guaranteeing a celebration of first-class Nigerian culinary experiences and everyday culture, pan-African plunged into Tola’s cookbook to see if it really takes Nigerian food, well, out of Africa.
Read on to discover authentic Nigerian dishes and the history and culture behind them in The Orishirishi Cookbook.
Nigerian food and culture in full-colour context
For the uninitiated, some might say Nigerian food ‘is what it is.’
You dance with your fingers when eating, and the ingredients are pretty humble: meat, fish, rice, beans, pounded yam, and the like.
And with regular use of Scotch bonnets (amongst other kinds of chilli peppers), at some point in life you might have heard it described as ‘spicy.’
But not necessarily ‘fancy’.
There are no superior airs like in European cookery, and it is not going to change for anyone to get ahead in the international gastronomy arena.
So putting neighbourhood Nigerian food into context for those who have likely never really experienced it was always going to be ‘interesting,’ but Tola has risen mightily to the challenge.
On first impressions, a clearly formatted contents guides your eye to recipes for Soups, Rice Dishes, Bean Dishes, Yam Dishes, Small Bites, and Drinks, so you know where to browse.
A handy Food Map steers you on your journey through Nigeria’s four regions, with a key at the side to pinpoint where each dish originates.
The fresh and subtly-hued photography is aimed at the Instagram generation and above, displaying textile tablecloths, traditional patterned ceramics, and aesthetic smatterings of ingredients.
And Tola smiles on the page as you imagine her greeting you upon arrival at her upscale hotel Bogobiri House, ushering you in and making you instantly feel at home.
‘EKABO’ (Yoruba: ‘Welcome’) announces the doorstep.
Knowledgeable, aesthetically pleasing and friendly – a winning combination.
Nigerian food is hot, hot, hot right now
For a country in Africa that regularly bakes in temperatures as scorching as 33°C and higher, Nigeria sure loves its… hot soups?
‘Orishirishi’ means ‘variety’ in Yoruba, and one striking thing about the contents page (for this non-Nigerian at least) is the huge variety of savoury soups, or casseroles.
We start with Tola’s personal favourite ‘Native Soup’ to whet your appetite.
A spicy surf-and-turf concoction involving boiling snails, meat-avoiders might want to look away, but it certainly appears appetising in the final image, with a side of fufu of course.
Among the 14 soups jostling for your attention is the crowd-pleasing Egusi soup (an intriguing mélange of meat, fish, Scotch bonnet and melon seeds), and Edikaikong soup, featuring cow skin.
You can only come to the conclusion that if soups are so popular in Nigerian food, there must be some logic in ‘having something hot to cool you down’.
We later encounter Jollof rice (which you may have heard of), and Brazilian coconut-bean-fish stew ‘Frejon’ – who knew Brazil influenced this Lagosian Easter dish?
The ‘small bites’ are considered savoury party food, and yes, more Scotch bonnets swing by for these (aside from Puff Puff, explained below).
Some more tantalising introductory dishes to try are:
- Yam chips and egg stew
- Ojojo (yam fritters)
- Akara (bean fritters)
- Bean pottage
- Puff Puff (small, sugary balls of deep-fried dough – the only sweet dish in the book)
A sterling cookbook rooted in Nigeria’s food heritage
And after all the heat, meat and starch, you’ll need a swig of something to properly cool off by the end, so arriving at the drinks section is definitely revitalising.
If soaking and straining tiger nuts for their milk is not your thing, sipping on a tangy Bogobiri Chapman cocktail could be, infusing tangy sours and palate-cleansing citrus juices.
In ‘Tips and Techniques’, the more labour-intensive processes are spelled out, such as cleaning snails and bleaching palm oil, so beware if you like your food quick and easy.
You have a Scoville unit guide to chili peppers as well (in case you thought they were all just ‘spicy’), and a comprehensive list of UK, US and Canadian stockists.
Tola has also collected traditional and time-honoured proverbs, scattering them throughout and shining a light on African food culture:
- ‘Ata l’oogun emi; emi ti ko j’ata, emi yepere ni’ (‘Pepper is the spice of life’ or ‘a life without pepper is a fragile life’).
- ‘Eat when the food is ready; speak when the time is right.’
- ‘He who wears white attire should avoid the palm oil stall.’
And her jovial personal anecdotes ‘peppered’ throughout touch on a childhood spent in her mother’s kitchen making ‘Mummy’s Efo Riro’ spinach stew, and even her pregnancy soup preferences.
A Nigerian cookbook that is caring and sharing
Tola Akerele’s The Orishirishi Cookbook transports the foodie unversed in Nigerian food to Lagos and beyond, exhibiting the sheer variety of dishes and ties to culture along the way.
The food is proudly Nigerian, faking no ‘haute cuisine’ pretences, but happily welcoming anyone who is adventurous enough to try it – in fact, especially if you haven’t tried it.
So if you are going on a world tour in your kitchen through international cuisine, make this cookbook your Nigerian, nay, your African stop.
For those residing in the Nigerian diaspora who would like to try their hand at cooking up some ancestral dishes, you could not have a more authentic, well-informed guide.
Should you have the blessed fortune of experiencing a stay at cultural-hub-meets-hotel Bogobiri House, bear in mind that it is ‘a place where there are no strangers.’
And so with few worthy competitors, after the coffee-table worthy The Orishirishi Cookbook, there should certainly be no strangers in this world to Nigerian food.
Has The Orishirishi Cookbook inspired you to try your hand at Nigerian food? Let us know in the comments, we’d love to know what you have made!
The Orishirishi Cookbook is available to buy now.
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ks6ZxqsLLY
https://www.latimes.com/lifestyle/story/2021-01-19/how-the-fufu-challenge-on-tiktok-went-viral
https://twitter.com/StephanieBusari/status/1340330609550499841
https://www.legit.ng/1394235-nigerian-man-revolutionised-amala-wows-white-men-sweet-taste.html
