There is food at home

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.

'I' is for Injera. Let us celebrate with Ethiopia!

Hip hip hip hooray!

There seems to be no end to the good and exciting news coming out of Ethiopia.
So many progressive moves following a period of great turbulence.
We at The Food Hut are definitely happy for them.

First, their newly elected Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has made many reforms for good since being elected in April. Half of his cabinet are women including the 'defence minister'!

Next, we just heard today that they have nominated a 'female President' in the person of Ms Sahle-Work Zewde. What a landmark event. We hope she gets every necessary support to really get down to 'Work'. 😊.

This week, our food in focus happens to be 'Injera', made from grains that are unique to Ethiopians and Eritreans, called Teff'. 

Why don't we all make the healthy choice and at the same time help Ethiopia progress and celebrate by buying into their economy.

Let us eat Injera or even use Teff flour for our flour based recipes too.

Here's a clip of an Ethiopian Vegan Food Stall often found at Greenwich Market near The Cutty Sark.
They were adding colour to our recently concluded Woolwich Carnival

Congratulations Ethiopia!

Garri intervention - Fally's Food Hut Pictionary, 'Letter G', G is for Garri

'Junior!....' a voice rang through the dormitory. Chima groaned and wondered what those 'seniors' wanted again. 'Ah! I am too hungry to do anything right now,' he thought to himself. 'Junior this, Junior that. You would think that they didn't have hands or feet to do anything themselves. I wonder if I can escape this call'.
.Chima is in Junior Secondary School Class 1, and happens to be in the Boarding house. By this time of the month, his provisions have run out and Parent's visiting day is still four days away at least.
'Oh bother, I do hope my parents got my message. Sometimes, school dinner is not enough and we are always working so hard for these Seniors of ours'...
'Junior!', the call rang out again. No one else seemed to be available to answer and Chima knows that if he is caught ignoring the call it could end up worse for him.
'Yes senior, you called'. The Senior looks at him with a scowl, 'What took you so long or were you trying to dodge?' Chima replied shaking his head, ' No senior, why would I do that?'.
 'Alright', the senior said, 'I want you to collect my food from the dining hall. The Food Prefect will be expecting you with my bowl. Don't fail or else! Collect for my bunk mate and neighbour while you are at it. Now take these bowls and wash them ready!'
'If only my parents knew how hard we work here, they would give us more pocket money' he thought as he got ready.
'Gbagam, gbagam, gbagam' the bell rang! Time for dinner! Chima grabs his bowl as he must see The Food Prefect to sort out his Seniors' food before he can sit to eat his. His stomach definitely was growling by this time. Wait a minute! he had forgotten! Dinner was 'Beans and Garri! Excellent! If he had remembered, he would have asked for some Nido milk powder to drink his garri. Anyway he thought, if he can't settle down to enjoy his meal, he will just pour the garri on the beans and add sugar, then top it with water.
He finally sat down to enjoy his beans and garri smiling, as he heard Table 5 start  that familiar song;

'Ewa and Garri, our famous food
O we are proud of Ewa and Garri
When we eat Ewa and Garri
Our belle swell
O yes, we love Ewa and Garri'

He thought to himself, 'Now I know why I like this song, I had nearly died of hunger. This food na life saver o. Thank God for garri'. 'Please pass me the water', Chima said to his friend.
He ate as fast as he could and ran to collect the Seniors' food as he daren't miss picking it up and he didn't want to be late for Evening studies either. Double Wahala for junior boy.

He bundled the Seniors' portion of garri and beans to them and as he was about to run off he was called back, ' Junior! What is all this?!'.  Chima answered, 'It is your dinner, senior. That is what I was given for you'. 'Really?', the senior said, .'Okay, take away this garri, I don't want it messing up my locker'. Chima who was rushing off to class didn't hesitate to collect it, 'thank you senior'. He ran and put it in his locker; 'me, I don't mind it in my locker' he thought, as he shut his locker door.
'Wao! This is timely, soakies* for a couple of days, I may even get some groundnuts or geisha to escort it,' he dreams...

'Hey! Junior! Why are you still here? the dorm prefect shouted. Chima grabbed his books and ran but he was happy; he had received 'Garri intervention'. See you on Saturday, parents.

Soakies: a slang used to describe taking Garri with cold water and it can be eaten with other sweet or savoury accompaniments such as sugar, salt, peanuts, fish, grilled or fried meats.

Garri Intervention: a fictional article to show the place garri occupies in our African community. 
It is a staple meal in many homes and prepared for eating using either cold or hot water. 
Follow the link for more details. 
Garri is readily available in local Afrocaribbean Cash and Carry Stores.

Fally's Food Hut Pictionary; Letter F. 'F' is for Fufu.

Where I come from,

Fufu, 

is largely known to be a meal made from fermented cassava and is commonly eaten in West Africa.
It is popular due to it's longevity or longer 'shelf' or 'table life'. It is also known to last longer in the tummy serving as a deterrent to 'hunger' during a long day's job.
Each tribe in all our African communities have different names for this type of food but another general term for it and any such variants  is  'Swallow'.
This tells us about the way in which the food is consumed, which is by

 simply 'using your fingers 👋 to part a morsel from the cooked dough, 

dipping it in the accompanying sauce or tasty soup serving as a lubricant,

then....swallow. 😁. Belly full. Job done.

Here is a video showing how typical Fufu is made.

You will also find a whole list of alternative sources of flour or 'batter' for making healthier versions of swallow here.

We love our Fufu (swallow) and you can't blame us for looking for other ways to enjoy our rich soups. Even 'Cauliflower' has joined the queue.

Never tried such before..? Think bangers and mash and no sticky fingers 😂.

Hey, 😄 join the fun and make your own Fufu or Swallow variants.

Thanks for keeping us company and thanks to ALL NIGERIAN RECIPES for being so resourceful.
Next down the line in our Food Hut Pict-ionary  would be the Letter G;

Till then,

Fally Jay.