It is common knowledge amongst Africans and Nigerians in particular (speaking for my country people wen I sabi o! ), that we would rather save our money for other household things than on eating out.
Reasons being
1 - our head is calculating how many pots of soup or loaves of bread that money would buy instead
2 - we fear the menu may be overrated; 'not as nice as my aunt's cooking'
3 - we may have already eaten to the full before stepping out and also have a backup snack in tow.
As a result, any child who starts whining and pining for any 'snacks' in sight or for a drop in at an eatery they just passed, gets a standard answer:
'There is food at home'.
Maybe, not everyone says that but if you ask the average African child or young person, the verdict would be the same.
That being said, we do eat out and we do appreciate fine cuisine. More likely than not, such outings would have been motivated by things like, family or friends birthday celebrations, guys dating girls wanting to make a good impression, seasonal outings or the cook at home just can't be bothered that day. Sometimes too, we visit on a lunch break, when a cold sandwich and crisp don't cut it for the work ahead or when far away from our stash of cooked food in the fridge, like when away on a work trip.
Whilst we are so hands on with our cooking, I realise that one of the ways African cuisine and Caribbean cuisine can be appreciated is by our validation of the efforts of our many talented eatery owners and caterers.
So we need to visit them more often and those who have should 'noise' the Eatery or Caterer's fame. We should help with constructive advice where there is room for improvement or simply let the world know that they are brilliant. We need to advertise our food.
The game is on and all eyes are on us (Africa and The Caribbean Islands) now.
We still have loads of unprocessed and health boosting foods to be explored.
In the image below is a plan for us to truly get our game on and The Food Hut is committed to pushing through.
Join the campaign;
Send us your African and Caribbean Food snaps to share via 'The Food Hut Gallery' and help a brother, a sister or a food enthusiast find the goodness you appreciate in your food. You may even be in with a chance to win a voucher for your effort too. 😆
Yes, we know #thereisfoodathome 😥, go on, eat out anyway and send us your pics.
Thanks xx
Fally Jay
For The Food Hut.
