Where Did All The Yams Go?

Andrea Riccone

March 28, 2002

What About All Those Yams?

After all those stories and discussions about yams, I was curious to see what exactly Nigerians eat. As an agricultural society, most of their food comes from farming. They do have meat, but yams are the main food component of their diet. Most Nigerians eat a light breakfast and have their main meal in the late afternoon (Chroness). For meats, Nigerians have goat, cow, chicken, turkey, geese, guinea fowls, pigeon, fish, shrimp, crab, and other seafood. For fruits and vegetables, they have oranges, bananas, pineapples, tangerines, carrots, watermelons, guava, melons, limes, grape fruits, mangos, apple (tinier than American apples and pink and white in color), peppers, tomatoes, onions, peas, and many other things (Chroness).

Yams, cocoyams and sweet potatoes are popular in Nigeria. Ah, those yams, also called isu. The image we, as Americans, conjure up when we think of yams is not the same as Nigerian yams. These yams can grown up to 7 feet long and weigh approximately 150 pounds. They have three (3) types of yams: white, yellow, and �water yams’ (Gourmet). There are numerous ways to prepare and serve this abundant Nigerian food staple. However, they must be cooked, otherwise they are very toxic. Plain boiled yams, either white or yellow, are peeled, sliced up, usually into pieces about 3 centimeters, and boiled in water with salt. It is accompanied with vegetable oil, palm, oil, eggs, beans, and sometimes soup (Gourmet). Another popular meal is a variation of the above using boiled yams requires pounding the yams and forming small smooth balls with the them, it is eaten with vegetables, meat or fish soup.

Nigerians also fry their yams. White or yellow yams are cut up into long thin squares and fried in vegetable oil or palm oil (Lipman). This is usually eaten by itself or occasionally as a side dish. Another dish is ojojo. This dish consists of cut up water yams that are fried in vegetable oil or palm oil. This dish is also usually eaten on its own(Recipes). Asaro is white or yellow yams peeled, sliced, and diced into small cubes, then cooked with ground tomatoes, peppers, sometimes meat, other spices, and comes out reddish in color (Recipes). Ikokore is similar to asaro, but it is made with different yams. Yes, there are different forms of yams! The water yam is softer in texture and, when cooked, it usually comes out a brownish color. Iyan (pounded yams) is usually served with soup. This meal is peeled yams that are ground up on a mortar. This powder is then placed into boiling water until it has a thick smooth structure (Gourmet). The final popular yam dish is amala. It is made from yams, but first, the yams are ground and dried to form a powder. This powder is then put into boiling water, and stirred and/or beaten until it has a thick smooth structure. The cooked product ends up being very dark brown in color. It is usually served with soup.

Soup, known as obe, appears to be another staple of their diet. Obe ate, or pepper soup, appears to be their most popular soup. This soup was mentioned on every single Nigerian food website. Pepper soup is a thick sauce made by boiling ground tomatoes, ground pepper, meat or fish, meat broth or fish broth, onions, vegetable oil or palm oil, and other spices (see recipe on page) (Nigerian). Obe egusi, plain soup, is made by grinding melon seeds, and then cooking it with the meat and spices. It usually ends up being yellowish-orange in color (Imoisi). Variations of the above mentioned soups are made by changing the types of leaves used in the preparation.

Akara is made from beans (called ewa) that are skinned and ground, then mixed with ground tomatoes and ground peppers and spices, then fried in vegetable or palm oil is made from skinned. It is usually served at breakfast and can been accompanied with akamuвЂ"or ogi (Imoisi). Akamu is dish made from corn. The corn is ground and dried, and made into a powder. Then this powder is placed in boiling water, and cooked until it has a thin smooth structure. Moyin-moyin is made of skinned and ground beans mixed with tomatoes, ground peppers, meat, eggs and spices. This mixture is put in banana leaves or aluminum cans and steamed. This dish can be eaten by itself, with rice, or at breakfast with akamu.

Rice, also known as iresi, is another abundant source of food for the Nigerians. They eat it as plain white rice, jollof rice (see recipe) and fried rice. The white rice is simply steamed; while the friend rice is cooked in oils, vegetables, meat, and spices. One of the oils used to cook the rice is palm oil. Jollof rice is rice cooked (or baked) with ground tomatoes, peppers, sometimes meat and vegetables, other spices, and comes out reddish in color. This oil is a reddish brown and made from ground palm kernels (Lipman).

Ogedge, or plaintain, often accompanies rice dishes. It is similar to a banana, just a little bigger. Dodo is sliced or diced plantains, fried in vegetable oil and is served with eggs, rice, beans or by itself (Imoisi). Boli can be served with the same above-mentioned foods. It is prepared by baking a whole plantain in the oven.

Corn, or maize, is also found in Nigeria. It is served boiled (the corn is still on the cob and boiled in water and salt), roasted (the corn is still on the cob and it is roasted in the oven, or on a grill until it is brown), or adalu style (the corn is off the cob and boiled with beans). Adalu rice is usually served with the pepper soup. There are also the styles of tuwu, aadun, and kokoro. Tuwo corn is ground into a powder, then put in boiling water and stirred/beat until it has a thick smooth texture. Aadun rice is ground, and mixed with ground red pepper. Then oil is added, and it is put in ewe (green leaves that things can be cooked in) and cooked or baked. It ends up being very spicy in nature (Recipes). Finally, kokoro is ground, then mixed with some ingredients, then rolled into long (about 30 cm) thin (about 1 cm) sticks and fried in vegetable oil. Both aadun and kokoro are eaten as snacks.

Other snacks include: puff puff, chin chin, sausage rolls, and meat pies. Puff-puffs are made from deep frying a dough mixture into circular balls. It is also sometimes dipped in sugar. Chin chins are kneaded dough that is rolled flat, then cut into small squares, and fried in oil (Imoisi). The sausage rolls are simply cooked sausage that is rolled up in a pastry and baked in an oven (Recipes). The meat pies are seasoned meat, potatoes and other vegetables and placed in a pastry. It is then baked (Imoisi).

Nigerian drinks are now similar to ours due to urbanization. They drink water, soft drinks, tea, fruit drinks,