I just ate Nigerian food

Fit for a Prince?

Jollof rice!

Thanks for the recipes

Egusi soup

I've eaten Jollof Rice a few times and thought it was just okay, mostly in the sense that the flavor was unexceptional - both with curry and without. It was perfectly fine (except that I dislike dealing with bones and skin on a plate), it just wasn't distinctive. Its flavors and combinations of ingredients turn up in foods from many places.

Jollof rice reminds me a little bit of jambalaya.

Or a score of standard Mediterranean dishes. Or other basic dishes from Africa or Asia.

I’ll be honest, the couple of times I’ve had jollof I wasn’t all that impressed. My Nigerian friends made it sound like a fancy and gourmet palow. I thought it was ok…

“Mind the maggots!”

If you like Nigerian food you'll love Filipino Balut! (boiled alive duck embryos)

Jollof from Ghana is SO MUCH better!! It's all in the rice and spices . . .

R11, Ed Sheeran agrees with you.

But what about Senegalese jollof rice?

Cultural appropriation! Everyone knows ric originated in Asia!

My in-laws are all Nigerian (my two brother's wives). I have been eating that stuff for years. They go on and on about their Jollof rice, efo and pounded yam. Pounded Yam is a running joke with my husband and me. You can have it. Once you know all those spices and heat were originally used to cover up the taste of possibly old or rotten meat, because of lack of refrigeration, you kind of get over it. Indian food can sometimes be the same thing because of lack of refrigeration. Cook spoiled meat for 8 hours and throw 6 chilli peppers into the mix - you'll never know!

Hunty, that weren't fried chicken!

We had a big immigrant population in our urban church growing up-Latin American, Caribbean, and African, etc. Church potlucks were the bomb!

R4, egusi soup is tasty.

I don’t like chicken thighs.

I LOVE chicken thighs. They are the most delicious part.

[quote] Cultural appropriation! Everyone knows ric originated in Asia!

Ric Ocasek was actually from Baltimore.

R15 My mother had a housekeeper from Ghana.

She would prepare her native dishes for herself. The cuisine is slop.

Very basic cuisine.

I prefer Nigerian beef.

Did it scam your digestive system?

You gotta love white Americans judging others for shitty, bland food

And if they're not American, they're likely British with even shittier food.

R26 I am actually black. My in-laws are Nigerian. One faction is American, the other is British. Not good food.

Americans have embraced all sorts of international cuisine, even if most are exposed only to Americanized versions.

Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Italian, Middle Eastern, Indian, Mexican, Caribbean

If Nigerian food is good, American will eat it.

[quote]You gotta love white Americans judging others for shitty, bland food

Whatever you say.

Fufu is like a ball of gluten.

Nigerian food?

Nummy nums.

[quote]R31: Fufu is like a ball of gluten.

Yes, Rose. And Gluglu is like a ball of fluten.

R26, cajun/creole, Texas bbq, etc are hardly bland.

Chilies came from South America. No one else had that shit til Columbus brought some back. Not in Asia nor Africa. So their food was not so full of “piment” as Cameroon their signature sauce is called.

Of course northern climates could not grow all of the same spices as the rest of the world, but they made good use of herbs.

Was it wearing a MAGA hat?

R30, Whiteland, outside of the Mediterranean, is mostly shit food.

A good rule of thumb: the blonder the country, the worst the food.

Or the darker.

R40, I dunno, but of Italian descent here, and the food of Northern, eastern, and non-Mediterranean western Europe is pretty bad.

Or those that contain more sand than say… soil. So they can’t grow anything.

Or the ones that are so religious (mentally ill) that they don’t allow themselves to enjoy anything.

R42, or those cold snowy, wintery countries.

Little historical access to fresh vegetables, herbs, spices, fruits + a short growing season = terrible food.

I would like to try jollof

R38 has never been to Europe.

R46, my mom is European (Italian).

I've never seen a Nigerian restaurant.

Apropos of absolutely nothing other than this taking place in Lagos, but…

My younger brother’s wedding was in Lagos just last year. It was a grand affair, 1500 guests, performers, fireworks, tons of food, full bottles of top shelf alcohol passed around in buckets, full machine gun armed security detail - the works. The difference between the have and have nots is staggering, disorienting.

Anyway my older brother’s father in law is Nigerian as well and operated a hotel there. They are my family too, I’ve known them for thirty years now. I went over to the hotel to hangout to escape the circus like insanity of the wedding. The hotel is right on the water there, the river.

But I was standing looking out over it, having a cocktail and looked down. In the water. There was a huge condom floating in the water that looked like it was manufactured by Hefty. It was about 10” long and stretched out, floating like a jelly fish. I was captivated and repulsed at the same time. It gave new meaning to Pounded Yam.

R48 we have a few Ethiopian ones here. Not sure what the difference is between the cuisines.