FOOD: EVERYBODY'S FOOD IS BEST

I sit down today, watch television with disgust, disbelief, and sometimes with nausea as people consume all sorts of living things ranging from insects, bugs, slugs, maggots, grubs, spiders, scorpions, etc, etc.
These culinary dishes which were once confined to the tribes in the jungles of Asia, Africa, Australia, Central and South America have not only found their way to the cities and prime time television but are also being considered as delicacies and tabled as haute cuisine.
The patrons of these weird dishes are Europeans and European Americans; the same people who many years ago condemned the foods of their local hosts and imported all their foods. They snubbed the local foods and sometimes made unsavoury remarks and these impacted negatively on the locals.
The educated and enlightened locals, some of whom had studied abroad, on achieving status in government or in the big prevalent European companies, decided that the best way to live was the way the colonial masters did. They dressed like them, went ballroom dancing, had tea in the hot African sun but to top it all, employed cooks who knew or supposedly knew how to prepare European dishes. Things like steak with potatoes and mushy peas served with some not very exciting gravy. Come dinner time and they would put on their jackets and ties. Just imagine that; going to put on a suit or even a tie to have dinner in my home!!!. Children were not exempt from these rules; I must say we were not at all impressed.
Time was when eating a good Nigerian meal outside of your home was confined to the bukas or mama put as they are called today. In the 50s, 60s and probably in the 70s you could not get a decent Nigerian meal in any hotel or top class restaurant and even at parties, food was restricted to rice, chicken & dodo(fried plantain) which was thought to look presentable unlike the not so eye catching but very tasty amala & ewedu with fresh fish(Yoruba dishes of Oyo state).
As they say there are always exemptions to the rule and I recall in the mid to late 70s, I had a hand full of European friends of which the Italians stood out. Every Saturday, they came over to my flat for ogbono, okro and egusi soup served with either pounded yam or eba. In return, I was constantly a guest in one home or the other sampling great Italian dishes beyond spaghetti & macaroni; a far cry from British food of those days.
Today, Africans are proudly dishing out their national dishes out of New York, Dublin, London, Paris, Frankfurt, Rome, Chicago, LA etc etc & the natives of these cities are enjoying them. British food is no longer bland because they, like most other Europeans & North Americans are incorporating Asian, Caribbean, African and Latin American flavours to their dishes. African recipes are all over the internet and the varieties are expanding daily because we also are adding some foreign touches to our recipes.
I also recall how the colonial masters thought eating with your fingers was an abomination; eating with one’s fingers is not restricted to Africans & Asians; check out the Mediterranean countries of Europe & the Middle East ; these are places where food and the preparation is like religion; fingers come first. Due to certain exigencies, the cutlery has become an advantage.




I love cooking; to me it is an art where you can let your imagination run wild like Picasso or Michelangelo would do. It is a science when you know that your concoction is going to cause a delightful explosion of your taste buds. You can cook like mummy cooked and that would be okay for the unadventurous.
I eat almost anything presented to me but I do not think am ready for insects, bugs, worms etcetc. I have had goats’ balls, brain omelette, raw meat and lots of other animal parts and am willing to try more but not insects and bugs.
Today, the middle class menu is international from, Indian curries, Chinese stir fries, Italian pasta sauces, Japanese sushi to Mexican chilies etc, etc. If you cannot prepare it, just check round the corner and some restaurant somewhere must have it on its menu. Regardless of these varieties one must long for those foods that one grew up with; it is your comfort food that soothes and satisfies you through and through.
My favourite foreign foods are Arab foods of North Africa to the Middle east. These people are prolific at cooking lamb & goat. They have a very wide varieties of kebabs, kaftas, & kebays; Their salads are aromatic especially Tabouleh, a parsley based herby salad. There is hommous which has become an international dip; vine leafs stuffed with rice and mince and cooked with a good chunk of lamb attached to the bone. Yummy.
Bon appetite and always remember that everybody's mother is the best cook.