Yes, I refuse to call it a town, I call it a city, we've got a bit of pride and esteem to be called a town 😌.
If you're from the western part of Nigeria, you might already have an idea of where I come from because like every other tribe is ascribed to certain characteristics (whether true or pseudo), my tribe as been described as people who've got some pride, values education and are principled.
In case you're still confused, let me being the sunshine that will clear the cloudy look off your sky.
Saying we are principled is actually me looking for a cool way to say how people describe us, we have been termed very stubborn people who don't listen easily 😂.
Ondo alagidi (Ondo, the stubborn ones) is one of the highest remarks I get when I tell people I'm from Ondo State.
Ondo,the Sunshine state is a virtuous land every man wants to have a wife from 😌. This is not just as a result of our beauty, but also our brains and also of our kitchen skills. In Yoruba land, the food referred to as the King of all meals is our traditional food, I'm talking of no other food but the great POUNDED YAM.
I have been visiting my hometown basically before my conception, during my conception and since I was a baby and up until now, I visit my home town regularly, one of the things I enjoy so much is the journey itself.
Knowing the names of neighbouring villages and the history being their names or their existence. My State is a big one and my hometown (sorry, my home-city) is a little bit further inside, so I get to see a lot of neighboring sites.
Out of the numerous parts of Ondo State, I'm privileged to hail from a royal family in Ikale, Ode-Irele, the place where money grows on trees (The English version of the eulogy of my home town)
I've been to my Ode-Irele which can be shortened to Irele since my conception, so I know quite a lot about her. The people of Ode-Irele are very fashionable people, as they don't mind to spend money on their clothings, they are also very good with palm oil production and pupuru.
Pupuru is one of our amazing amazing traditional food that I'm sure no man can resists after having a taste.
It is made from cassava,but has passed through a lot of processes which makes it easy to prepare when it's in it's powdered form. It is prepared just like eba, a yoruba native food, some prepare it like amala, buy I don't like that method.
We also have a unique soup that can make people bite their fingers and remember right after they are done with the food.
One unique and amazon quality about this soup is that it's looks and taste are 100% different, it's the correct definition of never judge a book by its cover.
No matter the amount of oil added, it will always maintain it's green colour, the best fish to cook it with is catfish.
Pupuru is traditionally served with our native soup called EWETA, some call it MARUGBO. It can as well be served with any other soup of choice.
Next, it's no new news that we are serious lovers of pounded yam and personally, any kind of soup goes with pounded yam, infact, it's my best food.
The fact that so many people. Complain about the tedious process of making pounded yam and I see the likes of age 8,9 10 and so on pound ham in my place is some times funny.
Another unique fact I noticed about Ikale people is the fact that we are Yorubas, but still have a number of things in common with the Igbos like our dressing, we tie two wrappers just like the Igbos and few of our pronunciations sound similar with theirs, so many people from Info also facially look like Igbo and our native language cannot be understood by a Yoruba man that isn't from our side.
We also have a part in Ondo State where no other part understands their language, they are THE AKOKOs, although from Ondo state, no part of Ondo understands their language.
I love my hometown (city rather) and love spending time there.