Nigerian cuisine consists of dishes or food items from the hundreds of Native African ethnic groups that comprise Nigeria. [1] [2] Like other West African cuisines, it uses spices and herbs with palm oil or groundnut oil to create deeply flavored sauces and soups. [3]
Nigerian feasts can be colourful and lavish, while aromatic market and roadside snacks cooked on barbecues or fried in oil are in abundance and varied.
Tropical fruits such as watermelon, pineapple, coconut, banana, orange, papaya and mango are mostly consumed in Nigeria. [4] [5] [6] [7]
Nigerian cuisine, like many West African cuisines, is known for being savoury and spicy.
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Nigerian Cuisine has emerged from available recourses in agriculture. Crops like yam, african rice, black eyed peas, millet, sorghum, okro, egusi, palm oil amongst others are native to the Nigerian region and are staples in cooking. Introduced crops from trade like cassava and corn amongst others are also popular in Nigerian cuisine. A variety of native grown vegetables are staples. [8] [9] Indigenous fruit trees including African star apple (Chrysophyllum albidum), African mango (Irvingia gabonensis), African or native pear (Dacryodes edulis, hog plum (Spondias mombin)and garden egg are important as well. [10] Yam is mainly produced in West Africa including the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, and Cameroon, which represents 97% of African yam production. [11]
Meat is used in most Nigerian dishes.
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