Africa is a continent where cooking is portrayed to be a highly specialized area of expertise which was (and still is) well handled by mothers and grandmothers. Growing up in a typical African (Nigerian) household, “African food” is all I know (and by “know”, I mean can compete for).
Talk about meals like “Pounded yam and egusi soup with all sorts of proteins,” “Amala and ewedu plus gbegiri” that will make you sleep off at the dinner table. “Afang Soup with unshelled periwinkle” that will make you wink at your enemy in a friendly manner. “Ofe Akwu” that will make you conclude ‘Igbo people are not that bad o’. “Miyan Taushe” that will make you tell the world Boko Haram is just a political propaganda. “Tuwo Masara” that will make you want to go ‘#BringBackOurGirls’, to mention but a few.
I recently discovered the wonderful world of Indian Cuisine and in a more African way. This discovery happened at Cumberland Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria. It’s an Indian-Nigerian hotel and restaurant (because the owner is Indian but has acculturated into the Nigerian Culture). The hotel cum restaurant has 66 rooms for lodging as well as a 24-hour restaurant. The aroma of its food will blow you away as it did me. I took 171 pictures of three (3) room categories, one nightclub, one restaurant, one hotel building and one supermarket.
The host of the hotel offered me and my team a taste of their cuisine right there in the restaurant, but we declined and asked for a take-out because we were on official assignment.
The food was a full blown 4-course meal that consisted of Chicken Biryani, Chilli Paneer, Mutton Sheekh Kabab in sauce and Tandoori Roti. Anyway, I got home with the food, opened it to fully scrutinize what was packed. I took the first tip spoon taste’ of the Chicken Biryani, then Mutton Sheekh Kebab, followed by the Tandoori Roti and finally, Chilli Paneer and the taste was so mind-blowing. I still have some in the office freezer.
Adekoya Tomilola works with the Field Acquisition team of Africa’s number one hotel booking portal, Jumia Travel Nigeria. Her travel experience is part of the company’s weekly employees’ articles.
