The average African home, when visited, would probably welcome you with food and drinks. And if you visited the village (at least mine, for example), be sure to have multiple dishes (some may be the same) that would be brought by different households as a form of welcome. To be specific, in Nigeria, the least to be offered to any visitor is a glass of food, and once food is prepared, you are likely to partake in it. If you stay long in the house as a visitor, it is almost certain that you will munch on a snack or eat some food.
How much then should we consume? And in what proportion is ideal? The food requirement for any single individual varies, and I may not be able to break it down, especially since I am not a nutritionist or food scientist, but suffice to say, a balanced diet is appropriate at least once a day. Diets are often moderated according to body requirements, such as for obese or underweight individuals.
I grew up in a home where dishes were routine. Every morning comes with pap, also known as 'akamu' or 'ogi' here in Nigeria. It's often grounded guinea corn or maize that may even be mixed and sieved prior to preparation using boiled water. A similar example is in the preparation of custard. Of course, there are occasions that the pap does not come, and rather, we consume other starch and carbohydrate meals like yam, bread, etc. The afternoon can come with meals such as spaghetti or rice, and sometimes beans. I used to love beans, but I recently discovered they worsen my peptic ulcer, so I've painfully stayed away from them.
Dinner at my family house is very predictable! If we eat rice or a mix of it with beans today, then tomorrow will be a swallow meal, which may be cassava, yam, potatoes, flour, etc. Occasionally, my favorite meal, pounded yam, comes knocking at our doors.
You may have heard of Nigerian jollof rice. Nigerians believe we make the best jollof rice, which is easy to prepare, but for the lazy me, I'd rather just be the king and get served the meal. And yes, there is the party jollof rice, which tastes a little different from the home-cooked jollof. The party jollof rice just has a sweetening aroma that makes the meal one from the party. It is often said that the home cooked jollof should be allowed to burn a little when in the pot so as to give that fragrance.
I am from the Nupe tribe, here in Nigeria, and our native food is 'tuwo rice' which is rice meshed like the swallows mentioned earlier, stirred and mashed together, and shaped into balls as may be desired. Our soup is bean soup (also known as gbegiri), which can be substituted with other soups when the former is unavailable. We do not get to eat the native food often, but when we do, it's always a delicacy.
About a month ago, I had a serious acute diarrhea disease, which I presumed must have been from contaminated food. Occasionally, I eat out when home food is not readily available or difficult to assemble. This does not mean that I do not eat meals cooked outside, like on occasions, but I take extra caution with the presentation of the meal (though looks can be deceiving) and have an aversion to leafy vegetables or fiber-containing foods that would easily move my bowels.
By and large, I am optimistic that, with a matter of time and less stress in life, the body will come into harmony with the spirit, and some extra flesh can be added to the peri-sixty-weight body that I have.
Here is my entry into #aprilinleo monthly and daily prompts. You can participate via this LINK
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Thank you for reading. I would love to have your comments and contributions.