Nigerian Foods- The Second Week

Well, I’ve been here (almost) two weeks now, and the culinary adventures continue each and every day. With seemingly endless tasty foods, I have the opportunity to try something new at every meal if I so desire. This week I also started delving into fruits as well as snacks from the supermarket to discover which ones I like the best.

As for traditional foods…

Stew, white rice, turkey and fried plantains. Stew is the standard red sauce that is use in many things here. It’s made of tomatoes, peppers (spicy ones) and onions, pureed together and fried. Delish.

 

Beans. I don’t know if there is a specific name for the way these are prepared, but I was just told “beans.” It kind of looks gross, but it’s really tasty.

 

Meat pies and puff puff. These are also staples, and two foods my Nigerian friends in Romania often made. This meat pie had minced meat and potatoes, but chicken ones are also common. Puff puff is hands down one of my favorite Nigerian foods. It’s just fried dough, but it’s so good. The puff puff I've eaten has always been small, about the size of a walnut or golf ball, but this one was about the size of a baseball. I think when people make them at home they make small ones, but to sell in a shop they make them big.

 

Suya. At long last I have eaten suya!! It’s thinly sliced barbecued meat covered in spices. When I would ask Nigerian friends what food they most missed from home, many of them would say “SUYA!” I had it once at an African festival in Maryland, but this was my first IN Nigeria. I have to say, it was probably the spiciest thing I’ve eaten yet, and it definitely pushed my limits, but I really enjoyed it.

 

And now on to some fruits…

Oranges, apples, and pineapple. Some friends went to the market in town midweek and brought all this back for me! I have been working on it ever since, though I must say I finished the pineapple in about 24 hours. The lady who peeled it for me said it wasn’t ripe and it would hurt my teeth (??), but to me it tasted like one of the best pineapples I’ve ever eaten. And they cost about $1 here. Score! The oranges are not orange orange on the outside like in States, but they’re sweet and delicious! The apples taste like Golden Delicious.

 

I saw this in the market and said, “WHAT IS THAT??” I still don’t actually know the name, but I gave it a try. I don’t think it was quite ripe, as I think it’s supposed to be soft so you can scoop it out, and some of it was hard. However, I was able to eat some of it. I was searching for something to which I could compare its flavor, but it’s so entirely it’s own thing that I can’t come up with anything. I can’t say that I fell in love with either the texture or the flavor with this first trial, but I’ll consult some friends and maybe give it another attempt.

 

And finally, some snacks…

Groundnut (aka peanuts). I love how they’re sold in glass bottles here. During my first week I ate boiled groundnut, which was a first for me, as I’ve always had them roasted. But these are roasted and very lightly salted and while they taste mostly the same as in the U.S., they’re somehow more fresh and flavorful.

 

Digestive biscuits, plantain chips, and a cupcake. All of these were ok, all were pretty neutral, not strongly sweet or salty. I have had plantain chips from another shop that I prefer to these, but at 30 cents for a bag, I’m totally fine with “ok.”

 

Cereal and milk. Breakfast is often a tough meal when living in a new place, because different cultures have vastly different traditions for breakfast. I could probably write an entire post on that, but for now I will say that I like to eat cereal for breakfast. Toast and/or eggs are also great, but oh how I love a bowl of cereal to start my day! I was pleasantly surprised to see a good number of cereals in the store (Translation- 8-10 options in the biggest supermarket on campus. Translation- the biggest supermarket on campus would be a glorified bodega in NYC), and even noticed one that looked to be like what I would eat at home. Now, I don’t expect or need what I have at home, but it’s certainly nice to have SOME things be similar. Turns out, Kellogg’s Fruit ‘n Fiber is a great cereal that looks exactly as pictured on the box. The down side is that it’s $7 a box, which would be absurd even in NYC, but is particularly so here. And then there’s the milk. No liquid milk here (well, at least I haven’t seen any), just bags of powdered milk to which you add water. I’m definitely still getting used to this, but it’s also not as bad as I thought it would be. All things considered, I think I’m ok having this $7 cereal as my weekly “splurge.” (Please note that there were also Rice Krispies, Cocoa Puffs, Corn Flakes, and Special K, so there are definitely several ‘familiar’ options to sample)

 

Chocolate chip cookies and choco-pie. I realized at the end of my first week that I had gone that entire week with no chocolate in any form. Very unusual for me. So this past week I delved into treats that include chocolate. The chocolate chip cookies taste mostly like Chips Ahoy, and the choco-pie is just a delicious little treat. Yum. (By the way, most, if not all of these packaged snacks are not “Nigerian,” they’re imported.)

 

FANICE ice cream. You guys, there is ice cream in Nigeria! Because I wasn’t sure about the frequency of electricity and the feasibility of keeping things frozen, I was completely preparing myself to not have ice cream for six months. Turns out, there is ice cream. And it’s tasty. Not the same as ours, but every culture has different frozen treats. I’m thankful for this one.

 

And last but not least, my comfort food of the week- pizza. Much as I love Nigerian food, I have decided that once a week I’ll treat myself to some “American” food, just for a nice comfort and reminder of home. The chef at the Conference Center on campus (where I’ve been staying until we sort out permanent housing) who worked at a Sheraton somewhere and knows how to cook pizzas, burgers, and other random wonderfulness. All I need to do is call him and tell him what I would like, and a few hours later, voila. I have to admit I was skeptical, because many a time in Romania I was promised some “American” food that would be “just like home” that was sorely disappointing. But oh man, this was a seriously spot-on pizza, complete with mozzarella AND gruyere cheese, plus mushrooms and sausage. For $13. Made my Friday.

 

That is all for now. I’ll continue to chip away at the deliciousness that Nigeria has to offer and report back in next week. Until then I’d better figure out an exercise plan, because with all this food and no walking/running/swimming, I will definitely come back to America looking much plumper!

Nigerian Foods- The First Week

I really love Nigerian food. At least the food my Nigerian friends made while I was in Romania. So I have been pretty excited to get to eat it every day for six months (though perhaps 3 months from now I will not be so excited about the inability get anything BUT Nigerian food). Thus, I started off my first week full speed diving into the culinary treats of this country.

My first night on the drive from the airport in Lagos to the hotel I asked if I could grab some dinner. The driver stopped at a place called Sweet Sensations and told me he had to stay with the car, so I should go in on my own. Mind you, I had been traveling for 17 hours, had waited one hour for my bags in the (non-air-conditioned) airport, and had no clue what I was supposed to do. But thankfully it was a buffet style place where you could just look and see what you wanted, tell them, and they would dish it up for you. And thankfully I know a good number of names of foods, because there were definitely no labels. I got myself some Jollof Rice and chicken and went on my merry way. It was so entirely satisfying, wow, what a simple but delicious first meal:

On the trip from Lagos to Ife I saw lots of people selling various foods along the side of the road. As I had gotten up to leave at 7am and the drive was 3 hours, I was getting hungry towards the end of the trip, but I was also not wanting to be TOO bold in my first 24 hours and end up with some crazy stomach issues because I had eaten street food. However, towards the end of the trip I saw what looked like puff puff and was like I WANT THAT. The drivers laughed and said, “You know what that is??” Yes, yes indeed. They got some for themselves and some for me, but it was not in fact puff puff (fried dough balls, Nigeria’s version of doughnut). However, it was a friend ball of corn something-or-other, and was very tasty.

 

Throughout the week I’ve had all kinds of Nigerian staples. Here are pictures of a few of my meals.

Fried rice, fried chicken, and fried plantains:

 

Amala, egusi soup, fish, and chicken. There are lots of “paste” type things here (aka ‘swallow’ if you’re familiar with that term) made by mixing boiling water with flour from different vegetables. Amala is made of yam flour and is the lightest one (some sit like a brick in your stomach for hours after, ugh). You eat with your hands and take a bit of amala in a ball and scoop up some soup. It’s delicious:

Moi-moi (wrapped in a grape leaf). I had this for breakfast one morning. It’s a bean cake of sorts, and this one had bits of hard-boiled egg and fish in it. This isn’t my favorite favorite but it’s ok:

Pap. This is kind of a corn custard/pudding, that I had never eaten before. This was the first thing I didn’t really care for. Even with sugar in it, the taste was strange to me. It’s not a strong flavor, but I just didn’t care for it:

Fried fish, boiled potatoes, and veggies. I had this towards the end of the week, when I was a bit overloaded with spicey and ‘new’ flavors. Simple, but really tasty:

Jollof rice, fresh fish (catfish), and salad. My first Saturday we journeyed a 3 hour drive to Ijebu in Ogun State for a 70^th Birthday party (more on that later), and I had this tasty food there. The fish was seriously incredible. I had no idea I’d be eating so much fish, but I like it:

Star beer. This is one of the most common beers in Nigeria, kind of the “Budweiser” of the country. It’s a nice lager, I quite enjoyed it. (Side note- the largest Guinness Brewery in the world is in Nigeria. Guinness is EVERYWHERE here.):

I also ate pepper soup one night, though I didn’t take a picture of it. It’s a spicy spicy soup, and I had mine with catfish in it. The waitress was very concerned when I ordered it, thinking I wouldn’t be able to handle it. Oh man, it was so good, and not even as spicy as the ones my friends in Romania made. I’ll have to get a picture of it the next time I eat it. All this writing about food has made me hungry, so I'm off to find something new and tasty to eat!

Guys, I'm In Nigeria!

I’m actually in Nigeria. At long last, I am in the country whose people I fell in love with while living in Romania, the country I have learned so much about through countless conversations, the country I have longed to experience first hand for many years.

I wanted to wait until I was here for a few days to get a handle on things, but I think it will be interesting to write a bit of my first thoughts and be able to look back at my first impressions. Here are some random thoughts I’ve had since being here:

~It’s not as hot as I thought it would be. I think I had prepared myself for 90 degrees with 90 percent humidity PLUS no AC ever. In fact, it’s the rainy season and it’s only in the low to mid 80s in Ife, and while it’s quite humid, it’s not worse than August in NYC. And there is AC most places I frequent, so it’s totally bearable.

~There are little lizards everywhere. Like squirrels in America, but actually way more. The biggest one I’ve seen was only a foot long, but I’m still getting used to them scattering when I walk down a sidewalk lined with bushes. 

~Yoruba is the default language. I completely expected the default of people’s interactions to be in English, but it’s completely not the case, at least in Ife. People greet each other in Yoruba and converse mostly in Yoruba, though most everyone speaks English perfectly well too. I have decided that I must start learning Yoruba immediately. 

~I am the only white person here. I knew whiteys would be rare, but I guess I still thought I would see one occasionally. Since I left the airport in Lagos on Monday evening, I haven’t seen another white person. However, while I am obviously aware of my foreignness, it honestly doesn’t feel as odd as I thought it would. After a month or so I may think differently, but perhaps living in Harlem this past year helped me get over being a racial minority.

~It has been incredible to put sights, sounds, and tastes to everything I have heard about. While I’ve heard from a dozen people that “the road from Ibadan to Ife is terrible,” it wasn’t until I actually was on that road 2 days ago that it made sense. While I’ve been told that Lagos is a crazy place with tons of traffic and people everywhere, it wasn’t until I actually saw it that I understood. I couldn’t picture the landscape, couldn’t smell Africa, couldn’t taste the souya. But now I have and can, and it’s so entirely wonderful.

~I am truly thankful I know so much about Nigerian culture, food, and people. I’m sure that I will have culture shock in some ways, but having a good amount of experience already is incredibly helpful. I can walk into an eatery and not only know the names of most of the foods, but have tried a good number of them as well. I can pronounce and remember names. I am not bothered by the spice in the food. I have a reasonable foundation of understanding how people interact, and how that is similar and different to my own culture. I clearly have much to learn, but I am thankful for the preparation I have had.

In general, I am in a bit of a bubble at the university. Ok, a lot of a bubble. There is near constant light, running water, nice paved roads, window AC units everywhere, wireless internet that functions much of the time, and a high level of security. As in, the staff houses don’t have the massive fences or wall surrounding them that are ubiquitous in Nigeria. In fact they have no fences at all. Yea. That kind of bubble. The men who drive okadas (motorcycles) on campus have to wear helmets, have licenses, and can’t go above a certain speed limit. As in, I would ride on them and feel safe. This is in sharp contrast to okadas everywhere else- they are notoriously unsafe and have no standards. The university has a pool at the staff club, and I’m excited to be able to swim sometimes. Plus, they’re in the process of building an Olympic size pool that will be open in October. This is seriously incredible.

We drove into town last tonight to get me a phone, and I was snapped back into reality. Ife is just a big village of 200,000 people; the only thing here that distinguishes it is the university, and otherwise it has the feel of a small town. Many people told me as much, but to actually see what a “big village” looks like, it was very interesting. I’m sure I’ll write more on the town as I am there more, so I’ll leave it at that for now.

I’m still jetlagged, have a cold, and am often tired from so much new stimulation, but I am so excited to be here, so thankful that my supervisor and his wife have been  welcoming and helpful, and truly looking forward to the next six months.

Guys, I’m in Nigeria.

Nigeria Bound: An Overview

So I’m moving to Nigeria.

For 6 months.

If you’re like most people I know, you’re probably either thinking, “Are you out of your mind??” Or “That is SO exciting!!” The truth is probably a little bit of both. As I’m headed off on this journey, I wanted to provide some resources for those in my life who are interested in learning more about the country where I'll be for this next season. If all you know of Nigeria is what you read in the NYTimes or through a Nigerian prince who has emailed you about an offshore bank account, you would understandably be a bit nervous that I’m about to journey there. However, I assure you that Nigeria is a diverse, complex and fascinating country, and while it unquestionably has a lot of issues, there is much to be celebrated! This six months will be a great opportunity to learn about the health system and (hopefully) help to improve quality standards for newborn care in the hospital where I'll be working.

Ok, so. Some basics.

The Wikipedia article about Nigeria is actually pretty long and covers a lot of ground. If you know nothing about Nigeria, it’s a reasonable place to start. Nigeria is a country of ~160 million in West Africa, and it’s the 8^th largest country (by population) in the world. As for area, it’s about 2.5 times the size of California. The capital is Abuja and the largest city is Lagos (pronounced “Lay-gohs” not “Lah-gohs”), which is where I’ll fly to. They’re pretty similar in some ways to D.C and NYC, in that Abuja is the capital, but Lagos is where all the ‘action’ is. Abuja is a more orderly, planned, and clean city filled with diplomats and politicians, while Lagos is a booming, crowded, gritty city where you get the best and worst of humanity. The way Nigerians talk about Lagos is so much like Americans talk about NYC. Plenty of people from other regions say, “Ah, it’s too crowded and crazy, I could never live there.” But people who live in Lagos say they thrive on the intensity and buzz of the city. We shall see.

Approximately half of the country is Christian and half is Muslim, with the former mostly in the south and the latter mostly in the north, and the usual spectrum of what “Christian” and “Muslim” mean in each case. I was going to write a bunch more about culture, food, and people, but I think I’ll just wait until I’m there and share specific stories, pictures, and thoughts.  Here is a cool website that does some quick comparisons, “if Nigeria were your home instead of the US, you would…”

As for me, I’ll be in Ile-Ife, which goes by “Ife” for short. It’s about 100 miles northeast of Lagos, in Osun state, and in the heart of the region where the Yoruba people are located. I’ll be based out of Obafemi Awolowo University, most likely at the teaching hospital, though possibly in one of the satellite clinics. It’s an old and well-known university, and I hear it’s one of the more academically rigorous schools in the country.

Some fun links to videos and cultural awesomeness:

A video of various buildings on the OAU campus.

A video of an exhibit at the British Museum about historic sculptures from Ife.

A little bit about Nigerian Pidgin English and a Pidgin dictionary. English is the official language, and there are hundreds of tribal languages (though Yoruba, Igbo, and Hausa are the most common, as those are the 3 largest groups), but most everyone speaks Pidgin. It’s an informal language, used amongst your peers, in the market, etc. I know a bit and am excited to learn more!

I will say that Nigerians love music. And I could probably write an entire post about music in Nigeria (and may do so at some point). But, here is some praise music of one of the more well known Nigerian churches. Another woman named Lara George has a rockin voice and I love her song Hallelujah.

As for radio tunes, some of my favorite songs by Nigerian artists are Yori Yori by Bracket and Be My Man by Asa. Actually, Asa is just great all around; other good ones are Fire on the Mountain and Why Can’t We.

There is so much more that I could write, but I will stop for now. I will most likely write individuals posts about religion, music, food, language, the university, the hospital, and so so much more. If you read my blog while I was in Romania, you know that I’m always finding new adventures for myself, and surely life in Nigeria will be no exception. 

Wow. This is happening.