NRI NDIGBO: Igbo Food Abroad And Sources

NRI NDIGBO: Igbo Food Abroad And Sources

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By Joy Chinecherem

                                                Food is not rational. 

              Food is culture, habit, craving, and identity.

                                             -Jonathan Safran Foer

In search of greener pastures, people have traveled far and wide as the Igbos will always say Anaghi ano-otu ebe ekiri mmanwu. Igbos widely famed for their hustling spirit is at the forefront of people trooping out maka ibute ego and other purposes, all for the betterment of their lives. These abroad sojourners take our culture everywhere they go. 

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Traditional dishes which are expressions of our cultural identity become one of their integral connections with their motherland. Even with the wide range of food abroad, they still crave that which is part of their identity which makes the above quote clearer, Food is not rational.

Craving for our local dishes is one thing, getting these foods is another thing for our brethren abroad. For us in Nigeria it sounds stupid when at each turn, you have everything you need to prepare our local delicacies like Abacha, ofe nsala, etc and when they are in full bloom, you get them sometimes for free. Nigerians based abroad don’t have it easy as we do, as expected it is another land with their own food and cultures. The foods are not only scarce but very expensive, a restaurant with Igbo foods on the menu, best believe they will be billing you to the high heavens and sometimes you get something that tastes like it but not it. Typical of Igbos, we always find a way to move no matter what. 

We will be talking about how our people source for our local ingredients abroad, because man must chop no matter where abi?

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There is no better groomed local ingredient than the one gotten from home. It’s not unusual to see people drying up vegetables and edible fruit to package abroad because they know this. 

In the coming days before someone travels abroad, preparations are made, luggages packed, farewells said, while all these are going on somewhere in the background local food items that are likely to get rotten are being dried and stored in bags. Fresh leaves are shredded and dried up too like bitter leaves, Ugu, etc. Meats hung over the fire or fried stiff. For every food item that is perishable, ways to preserve it has been improvised, but of course, the taste is never the same.

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Open Air Farmers Market

These are local markets where farmers sell their produce directly to the public. For countries that mostly rely on canned processed foods, farmers’ markets seemed the only plausible solution to getting fresh vegetables close to what we have back home. Buying vegetables at this market is most times very expensive and then again, not exactly what you want but a look-alike because most of them have been organically altered. Some of these farmers are Nigerians who traveled abroad and saw the need for our local vegetables which prompted them to start their own farms, sometimes engaging in doorstep delivery. In the UK, a Nigerian started up his own farm which has expanded to several acres of land, dealing only in our local vegetables, people from other cities drive down to patronize this man just to show how much they crave for our homemade dishes. 

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In this new age of digitization, you can order anything from any part of the world and get it with little or no stress. Online food markets have been set up by different persons in Nigeria, selling to our diaspora Nigerians. With the vast network of transportations we have now, these food items get to them within a few days, still fresh. This is easily the best source but comes at a price as the saying goes better soup na money kill am. 

Another not so popular source of local ingredients, the Brazilian store, it is a known fact that the Brazilians have African roots and share similar cultural traits with us including foods. According to some Nigerians, some of their local ingredients are almost the same as our own which makes it easier for them to improvise with

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