History in the Recipe - Nigeria: Hope Through Food

Published on November 1, 2018

https://www.samford.edu/departments/oral-history/projects/samwav/Immigration-in-the-South.mp3

"More demand for cassava will lead to more planting. More planting will lead to more exportation. More exportation will lead to more money that can be used to improve the overall living conditions of impoverished inhabitants of developing countries."

Chapters

Introduction: Nigeria’s History and Politics

Spencer Bissel and Johnathan Lawson give an overview of Nigeria’s deep-rooted history, its tumultuous politics of the recent past, and its hopes for the future.

Play Segment

Amam Rochas and Nigeria

After telling Spencer and Johnathan about his family, Amam Rochas discusses his father’s dedication to bettering Nigeria and his own aspirations to do the same.

Play Segment

Cassava and Its Impact on the Nigerian Economy

Amam Rochas makes drinking garri, one of the many products made from cassava, and Johnthan and Spencer explain the various culinary and economic uses of cassava.

Play Segment

Cooking Fried Plantains with Amam Rochas

Amam Rochas shows Spencer Bissell and Johnathan Lawson how to cook fried plantains.

Play Segment

Transcript

[HARWELL GOODWIN DAVIS: He stated that he had been appointed to suggest a
president for Howard College.

EUNICE ROGERS: And so there was a lot of industry in Bessemer when I grew up, a
lot of progressiveness. However, it was still a typical, small, Southern town.

OLIVER BARREAU: To be perfectly honest with you, um, I didn't know what Alabama
was until I set foot in Alabama.

ELIZABETH SLOAN RAGLAND: I was not greeted by hecklers. I was greeted by Martha
Ann Cox.]

MICHELLE LITTLE: Welcome back to Sam.wav. We are your hosts, Michelle Little -- [0:46]

CLAIRE DAVIS: -and Claire Davis, back from Greece! --

MICHELLE LITTLE: and we're here to introduce the first student podcast in our
mini-series "History in the Recipe," our Food and History series.

CLAIRE DAVIS: When given the assignment to interview a person in the Birmingham
area to learn more about their history and their favorite food, juniors Stephen
Bissel and Jonathan Lawson asked fellow student Amam Rochas to be the subject of
their podcast. Join us as they walk us through the context, process, and history
of cassava in Nigerian culture.

SPENCER BISSEL: You're listening to Birmingham Eats, a podcast produced by
Samford University's Food and History class and Samford University Oral
Traditions and Recording Initiatives program. This episode is "Nigeria: Hope
Through Food." My name is Spencer Bissel --

JONATHAN LAWSON: and I'm Jonathan Lawson.

[music break: African drums, flute, singing]

JONATHAN LAWSON: Nigeria is today home to the world's seventh largest
population. With statisticians estimating it to be the third most populous
nation by 2050. With a GDP of $ billion US dollars, it is ranked 28th currently
in the world. These statistics tell a much different story from years past. Over
the course of Nigeria's history, the people of Nigeria, and the country itself,
have been marred by divisions and oppression.

[music break: men singing a capella]

SPENCER BISSEL: The first settlers of Nigeria are recorded to have arrived in
11,000 BCE. The first group to establish a dominant force in the region was the
Hausa people from northern Nigeria. The kingdoms of the Hausa began in about the
ninth century CE, its people living a life under semi-feudal rule. In about the
fifteenth century CE, the Hausa were introduced to Islam, and it took off. It
was led until the nineteenth century by the Sokoto and Fulani Caliphates. The
Yoruba people settled in the eleventh century below the mountains and next to
the Niger River in the southwestern portion of Nigeria. They lived another
semi-feudal life until colonialism grasped the region. The Yoruba became major
slave exporters to both Christian Europeans and Islamic states. They continued
the slave trade into the latest 1800's, which caused their annexation by British
powers. The last major group of Nigeria is the Igbo, a tribal democracy in the
southeastern portion in the monsoon area of the Niger Delta. Their story is one
of peace and acceptance up until the influences of colonial Britain. In 1851 the
port of Lagos, which was one of the largest slaving ports on the Slave Coast of
Africa, was annexed by British forces. Then, in 1861, the entire region of
modern Nigeria was given to Britain under the Berlin Conference, with Nigeria
becoming an official protectorate in 1906. Colonial rule lasted from 1906 until
1960. The long reliance on European powers and eventual European control of the
nation until the mid-twentieth century caused the nation to face serious
setbacks to its development. From 1960 to 1998, the country was ruled by
military regimes. The country faced turmoil from the beginning of its
independence. With no formal help or direction from the British, the country was
left to fend for itself. This left a power vacuum, which was filled by the
generals and warlords of the country. Struggles between the Islamic North and
Christian South surmounted to conflicts and eventual civil war. The constant
struggle during this period has placed Nigeria in a rut it has to climb its way
out of to achieve success. It has continuously relied on oil and natural
resources to fuel its economy. This has caused a gap in the spread of wealth
with the south along the Niger River and Delta receiving most of the benefits of
the wealth. But today, the country is looking to a brighter future under
democratic rule.

JONATHAN LAWSON: Military regimes, violent religious wars, and poverty have
historically created an identity of hopelessness in the African nation of
Nigeria. As a result, Nigerians have constantly been searching for something to
put their faith and hope in. However, the change in government and strives by
the people to change the face of Nigeria have amounted to a place with great
potential for the future. The Nigerian government is now looking to alternative
sources of income for the country, one of the most promising being agriculture.
They wish to turn the entire country into a huge production chain for growing
and processing agricultural goods for countless different purposes. It is
Nigerians like Amam Rochas that will help spur Nigeria into success.

AMAM ROCHAS: "Alright perfect. So, um, as Jonathan said, my name in Amam. The
full name is Amamchi Nefe, which means "I know the God that I serve." . . . grew
up in a city called Jos, Jos, in Nigeria. It's, um, it is in the Northern part
of Nigeria, and we all had a family of, um, six kids, a dad and a mom and just,
like, we were pretty close. My mom is into business in Nigeria. She is a, she
has a like a furniture business where she sells, um, chairs, and just stuff like
that. So, like Home Depot here, kinda. Um, and then my dad is actually into the
government. Um, so he is a politician and also he is into real estate as well."

JONATHAN LAWSON: I was fascinated to see how Amam views his father's influence
in Nigeria, being that he is in a position that can strongly influence the
culture and economy. I asked Amam what his father's passions are for the country
and how that has impacted Amam's life.

AMAM ROCHAS: "Just because as we all know, where Nigeria is right now is
probably not the best place it can be. So he just wants to change it in that,
you know, um, we are not looked at anymore as a third world country. And just,
you know, be in a, at the best place we can be as a country. His anthem which he
has always like told us, his six kids, is that--- he says this everywhere he
goes, he says, "Lord help me so that I may help others" and stuff like that. So
he always has the passion of just, like, helping people that cannot be able to,
like, help themselves."

JONATHAN LAWSON: Through the course of our interview, it became clear to us that
Amam's father's dreams and Amam's personal dreams are strongly linked.

JONATHAN LAWSON: "So you see an opportunity to move back to Nigeria in the future?"

AMAM ROCHAS: "Personally yes. Um, I just feel like America is, you know great,
and like they are already at a standard right now and you--- Nigeria is not, is
on another level. And if I stay and get my education, there's not much that I
can contribute to the United States that has not already been done. But I can
use most of my talents back home in Nigeria, so it just makes sense for me to,
you know, go back home."

JONATHAN LAWSON: "What are you studying?"

AMAM ROCHAS: "Engineering-physics"

JONATHAN LAWSON: "How do you plan on using that in Nigeria?"

AMAM ROCHAS: "Uh, I do not know. I do not know to be honest, but we will see.
Like whatever God has planned we will see, we will see how that works out."

JONATHAN LAWSON: Amam's dreams for a more well-respected and productive Nigeria
mirror the goals of many Nigerians living in the African nation. Their primary
objective is to improve the economic strength in hopes that increased funds will
allow for improvements in welfare, educational, and domestic projects. Many
Nigerians are attempting to make improvements through agricultural practices.
Currently, Nigeria is the world's largest producer of cassava, a starchy-root
that was introduced to Africa in the sixteenth Century by Portuguese slave
ships. It grows in poor soils, in a variety of climates, it can remain
unharvested in the ground for 24-48 months. It is also a great source of energy
due to its high levels of carbohydrates. Cassava, a primary export of Nigeria,
is utilized as a food, but also for its natural starch. Cassava starch is used
in the textile industry to coat clothing. It is used in the petroleum industry
as a clay dispersant. Starch is found in juices and soft drinks, and some are
even pursuing a cassava-based malt and alcohol. The hope is that large
industries and businesses will begin to utilize cassava starch as opposed to
corn starch. More demand for cassava will lead to more planting. More planting
will lead to more exportation. More exportation will lead to more money that can
be used to improve the overall living conditions of impoverished inhabitants of
developing countries.

[Music Break: drums]

JONATHAN LAWSON: In addition to using cassava as an export crop, cassava is used
heavily in native African cooking. Cassava, in African cookery, is found in five
forms: fresh roots, dried roots, pasty products, granulated products, and
leaves. Many cooks mix these forms with other ingredients like plantains, yams,
cocoyam, and sweet potatoes. Amam told us that, in Nigeria, cassava is most
widely consumed in a form known as gari, which is the roasted, dried, and
fermented version of cassava. I tis very popular, because it can be served hot
or cold, as a snack or as a meal, or even as a drink.

SPENCER BISSEL: During our time at Amam's apartment, he prepared us a cup of
drinking gari and a plate of fried plantains. Now a Westerner looking at these
might consider them to be nothing more than a snack, but one must look to the
culture of Nigeria. Meals are not structured like Westerners might. Dinner is
normally the biggest meal in places like America, but in Nigeria, the biggest
meal would be lunch. Let us listen in as Amam describes and prepares the
drinking gari and fried plantains.

AMAM ROCHAS: "We have sugar, you can use any type of sugar, um, Sweet an' Low or
whatever brand, it doesn't really matter. Just make sure it's sugar and not
salt, because that would suck. So use sugar and then, this is optional, but this
is, we call it ground nut but there different names to it. Um, but we call it
ground nut. Um, You can add that in or can just leave it out. And some people
also add milk to it. That just makes it a lot thicker, in a certain aspect. But
it has to be a special type of milk though."

JONATHAN LAWSON: After Amam discussed the main drinking gari ingredients with
us: gari powder, water, sugar, and ground nuts; Amam combined the ingredients in
a bowl to create a delicious and refreshing Nigerian beverage. Now let us shift
our attention to the other component of our meal: fried plantains.

SPENCER BISSEL: Plantains, "potatoes of the air," or "cooking bananas," are the
fruit of the Musa Paradisiaca, a type of banana plant. Plantains are more
starchy than sweet and must be cooked before being eaten. They are a staple crop
in much of Africa, and are served boiled, steamed, baked, or fried. They're not
native to the continent but are instead from southeast Asia. Their high starch
and caloric content made them a popular staple for most of the tropical world.
Africans have learned to use the plantain in many different uses of cooking.
Plantains grilled over a charcoal fire are popular street food in many African
cities. In Central and Western Africa, plantains are cooked and mashed to make
Fufu and similar Fufu-like staples. In Eastern Africa, plantains are fermented
to make a kind of beer or wine. In Uganda, plantain bananas are wrapped in
plantain leaves and steam-cooked until tender. In Nigeria, plantain bananas are
peeled, sliced, and boiled, or cut into thick chips and fried in oil. Amam told
us that fried plantains are a quick and easy food that many use it as a full
meal. Today in America, he said he would use it as a quick and nutritious
breakfast before he starts his day. In his apartment, we experienced the
preparation and frying of plantains the Nigerian way.

AMAM ROCHAS. "Yeah, you can eat this for like a lunch or also you can eat . . .
you can also eat it like for dinner as well. Just something light because as I
said we eat a lot, for lunch we eat heavy lunches, so this is just something
light because the heavy stuff would have taken a lot of time. But yeah so, um,
right now I'm just going to get the plantains. Um, I'm just going to cut it up.
We cut it up in a special way, um, so you can know, so it looks more Nigerian
(laughs). No, you can cut it up whatever way, um, you want to, but I feel like
every Nigerian home you go to, you're gonna, like, see it cut up this way."

JONATHAN LAWSON: "So is it better to have a thick chip, or thin, does it vary?
Do you try to make it the same?

AMAM ROCHAS: "It varies . .. We, in my family we make it a little bit, not too
thick, because, um, I'm going to use salt as well. So you don't want to have a
lot of salt. And also, like, just, it's just something I'm used to also. You
just don't make it too thick. So yeah we just cut 'em up like this. [cutting
noises] It normally takes like ten minutes, fifteen minutes to get really hot,
um. But yeah, as I said, plantain is a good meal. It's light as well so you can
eat this like right before you go to sleep, and your body will be good, uh,
because most Nigerian meals, you eat them before you sleep, you might feel
really heavy the next morning, so you this is definitely a good dinner. So now,
so the oil is hot enough to where you can put the plantains in."

SPENCER BISSEL: After the plantains had been chopped and prepped, Amam deftly
salted the plantains to prepare them for their hot oil bath.

AMAM ROCHAS: "So you touch the salt, and then, you just, you don't want too much
salt in it, and then just rub it around. [sizzling noises] You hear the sizzle.
So, uh. So you just keep waiting. Put a bunch in as well. Alright and then so
how you know it's done, so you always want to flip it as well, (unclear) to
flip, as well. Yeah. so you always want to flip it until it gets really brown on
the side, so you just keep flipping it. How you know it's done is when you put a
fork into it, it's going to be soft. That's how you know, like, it's fully
cooked. And then you want to just like hit it across the pan to take all the oil
off the plantain, and then you put it on the plate."

JONATHAN LAWSON: The diverse uses for ingredients like cassava and plantains
mirror the diverse endeavors of Nigeria to improve their economic status. It is
clear to us, as a result of study and discussion with Amam, that the dreams for
a stronger and more unified Nigeria are most definitely attainable. People
attempt to find hope through various means: family, money, education, faith. For
the people of Nigeria, this hope lies within foods and agricultural practices.
The goals are clear, and it is people like Amam Rochas who will make the dreams
for the future an eventual reality.

[Outro Music]

SPENCER BISSEL: We thank you for listening to Birmingham Eats. Once again, I'm
Spencer Bissel -

JONATHAN LAWSON: -- and I'm Jonathan Lawson.

MICHELLE LITTLE: Our theme music is by Samford student Kerry Joiner. Our cover
art is courtesy of the Samford University marketing department. Today's episode
was written and produced by Stephen Bissel and Jonathan Lawson, with
introduction and credits by Michelle Little and Claire Davis. This is a Samford
Traditions and Oral Recordings Initiative production. For more information on
Samford University or our program, visit our page on our website or follow us on
our Facebook and Instagram at Samford_Stori, and on Twitter at SU_Stori.

Audio Information
Attribute	Value
Repository	Samford University Oral History Collection
Accession	SUHist/STORI/007