Food is very important in the life of every living thing because we all need food in order to survive and stay alive. There has been a long age argument whether we live to eat or eat to live; some people believe that the reason why we live is just to eat while some believe we eat to live. Well, that will be a debate for another day but for now, let's acknowledge the indisputable fact that everybody needs food to survive. We all do
Over the years, man has come to value and appreciate food not just as something to satisfy hunger but also for fun. Yes, we eat food for fun, we eat to savour the goodness of different Foods, we eat to relish the delicious taste of food. The "fun part" of food has necessitated the discovery and use of different recipe and methods of preparing different delicacies
The methods of cooking and the kinds of food we eat depend largely on the culture of a particular people amidst other factors. Most countries in west Africa for instance consume cassava and rice products as their staple foods more than any other kind of food. Different countries in other continents of the world also adopt one staple food or the other, this practice has become so popular that one can almost immediately tell the nationality or locality of any individual just by knowing their favourite good.
As a West African, I can hardly stay a whole week without eating cassava or rice products, so if you already know that the staple food of most West African countries is cassava and/or rice you can easily guess and identify me as a west African because I can't hide it. Hahaha
I remember the day my dad told us his children that he had not eaten in one week, we all were amazed and wondered how possible for a man to stay strong and healthy for a whole week without food. We were already making plans to prepare food for him when he interrupted and told us that he'd still be starving if we prepared anything other than garri and soup, that was when it dawned on all of us that an African man can hardly survive without garri.
Garri is cassava flour. It's a kind of food widely consumed in west Africa, gotten from processed cassava. It can be consumed as snack by just putting it in a plate with water, sugar and/or milk and eat it with a spoon. You can also prepare it by pouring hot water in it to gelatinize in a plate, then you eat it with soup. Garri is one of the staple foods that a typical West African man cannot do without. So when next you see someone who is always hungry for garri or cassava just know that they're either from West Africa or they have lived there. Hahaha
The same thing is applicable to other continents and cultures around the world, some countries in the western world cannot do without coffee, some love pasta etc. It is important that we value and appreciate our culture no matter how exposed we are to other people's culture.
Some people tend to adapt to other people's food culture because they believe it's superior. But the truth is that No culture or people are superior to the other. Be proud of who you are and where you come from, be proud of your culture, your food. You never know, people might be longing to know and enjoy your local food and practice your culture with you. Your food can identify You, be proud of it!
Do you mind sharing your local delicacy with us?
