What is unusual or different about the food and cuisine in Nigeria?

The Nigerian cuisine is like nothing else I have ever tasted, and much of it at first, was strange and borderline unpalatable to me, but I have since acquired a taste for some of it. Here is me enjoying Nigerian food.

I’m British, and in Britain I am very much used to diversity of foods from around the world, we’ve made the Indian Balti and the Chinese Chow Mein national dishes of our own, alongside our roast beef dinners. I had wondered why, when we have restaurants that cover all corners of the globe- plenty of Thai restaurants, sushi bars, Korean barbecue, South American kitchen, Fancy French restaurants…. But few Nigerian restaurants- and those that do exist, exist to serve the Nigerians living here, and maybe one or 2 oyibos who have grown to love it through a connection.

I realize that unless Nigerian food is something you have grown up with, the flavors, appearance and textures of the foods are very much not what we are used to here.

To put it simply, Nigerian foods consist of a big mound of “swallow”- a carb based substance, made of either grains or pounded tubers, and a “soup” which is really more like a dipping sauce with chunks of meat or bone.

For me, the soups generally contain some kind of fish product- fish stock or dried /powdered crayfish, and as I’m not much of a fish lover, sometimes the taste and smell is just too fishy to enjoy it.

There are soups made with things like chopped okra, creating a glue like consistency and a rather slimy texture. But I’ve yet to meet a Nigerian who doesn’t like this soup!

Another thing to note is that Nigerians tend to like things quite “peppery”. Pepper to a Nigerian is actually a Scotch Bonnet chilli pepper, they rarely like bland foods.

The cuts of meat they like to eat in Nigeria are very different to what westerners would choose. For us Europeans, a juicy steak or tender chicken breast would be a favorable order in a restaurant, but Nigerians enjoy eating the parts that (with all due respect) we would throw away. They can use cow skin, tripe, bones, gristle, cow heads and all sorts in their dishes, and I must admire them for being so economic with such- an animal is never slaughtered in vain in Nigeria, it’s amazing how nothing goes to waste.

Most Nigerians- particularly those who have not travelled outside much, from my observations, will be so attached to their food that they’d probably struggle to go 3 days without tasting a Swallow and Soup. I used to wonder if nature gave Nigerians different taste buds.

I had to force myself to eat some of it as it was the only option, but after a few days it began to grow on me a little. My favourite dishes are Stew, Beans, yams with Egg Sauce, Vegetable Soup (made without fish).

Another notable difference with Nigerian foods, is that they eat with the right hand- no cutlery (except maybe a spoon for some dishes). They take a piece of the swallow and roll it around, fashioning it into a spoon to scoop up some of the soup. They often eat ‘family style’ with one larger portion on a plate and 2 or more people sharing from it, rather than separate plates and portions each.

Of course now, as social media and such, influences some changes, there are many Nigerians who are adapting to western ways, and also many more westerners heading to Nigeria adopting the traditional methods. If you go there, don’t forget to taste Jollof rice, possibly the most famous dish of all!

**EDIT** As per the request of Mr Oluwaseyi - regarding my observations about dining with hands for many dishes, he wanted me to clarify that there are some Nigerian people who don’t do this, and always prefer to use cutlery. And those who do eat the traditional way, they tend to make a point of washing hands either at the sink or in a bowl of clean water tableside with soap before they eat, they eat this way because it's cultural and not because they are uncivilized folk- far from it, they’re just embracing their traditional ways and it’s a beautiful experience!