Owo is a soup eaten in the south-central region of Nigeria. It is common among the itsekiri, Urhobo such as . The soup is made with garri soaked in water after palm oil and potash mixture has been added. It is traditionally served at weddings in the Delta State; its absence at a wedding celebration is considered insulting to guests. It is also served at other traditional celebrations. It is especially important among the itsekiri and Urhobo people.
The soup is also called oghwevwri, oghwoevwri,oghwo or owo; also oghwo ofigbo, ogwofibo and multiple other names. The name "Oghwo evwri" means "palm oil soup"; palm oil is a critical ingredient. [1]
Owho soup is a soup traditional to the south-central region of Nigeria. [2] it is common among ethnic groups such as Urhobo, Benin-bini, Itsekiri, Ijaw and Edo. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] The soup is made with garri soaked in water after palm oil and potash mixture has been added. [3]
There is controversy about the origination of the soup. According to history, the soup is either from the Itsekiri people, Urhobo people or Bini people. Owho soup is commonly taken in Delta State as well as Edo state where the two tribes are populous. [5] It is especially revered by the Urhobo people. [3]
Owho soup is made from fish, Banga oil, beef, crayfish, palm oil, potash where garri is poured into palm oil thickened with potash. [4] [9] Sometimes it is made with other ingredients such as bush meat. [10] The garri is blended initially to smoothen it, adding other ingredients like cray fish the soup is ready when there's floating oil on it. [6]
Owho soup is typically eaten with a starch (usi) such as boiled yam, boiled bananas, boiled plantain or sweet potatoes or other types of swallow but is sometimes eaten alone. [3] [5] [7] [2]
The soup is traditionally served at weddings in the Delta State; its absence at a wedding celebration is considered insulting to guests. [3] It is also served at other traditional celebrations and at funerals. [4] [11]
The soup is also sometimes served as a sauce. [12]
The Ijaw people, otherwise known as the Ijo people, are an ethnic group found in the Niger Delta in Nigeria, with significant population clusters in Bayelsa, Delta, and Rivers. They also occupy Edo, Ondo, and small parts of Akwa Ibom. Many are found as migrant fishermen in camps as far west as Sierra Leone and as far east as Gabon. They account for about 1.8% of the Nigerian population according to CIA Factbook. The Ijaws are one of the most populous tribes inhabiting the Niger Delta region and the eighth largest ethnic group in Nigeria.
Fufu is a pounded meal found in West African cuisine. It is a Twi word that originates from the Akans in Ghana. The word has been expanded to include several variations of the pounded meal found in other African countries including Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, Cote D'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Benin, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, Angola,Haiti and Gabon.
Ẹ̀bà (Yoruba) also known as Ebe or Pinon' is a staple swallow from Togo and Benin, also eaten in the West African sub-region and other African countries. The term èbà originates from Yoruba. It is also called utara by the Igbo people of southeast Nigeria. It is a cooked starchy vegetable food made from dried grated cassava (manioc) flour commonly known as garri all across West Africa. It is often eaten with rich soups and stews, with beef, stockfish or mutton. The dish is often described as having a slightly sour, sharp taste.
The Itsekiri are one of the Yoruboid subgroup of Nigeria's Niger Delta area, They speak a Yoruboid language and can be found in Delta State. The Itsekiris presently number 2.7 million people and live mainly in the Warri South, Warri North and Warri South West local government districts of Delta State on the Atlantic coast of Nigeria. Significant communities of Itsekiris can be found in parts of Edo and Ondo states and in various other Nigerian cities including Lagos, Benin City, Port Harcourt and Abuja. Many people of Itsekiri descent also reside in the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada. The Itsekiris are closely related to the Yoruba of South Western Nigeria and also close to the Okpe people and Edo peoples. The Itsekiris traditionally refer to their land as the Kingdom of Warri or 'Iwere' as its proper name – which is geographically contiguous to the area covered by the three Warri local government districts. The area is a key centre of Nigeria's crude oil and natural gas production and petroleum refining and the main town Warri forms the industrial and commercial nucleus of the Delta State region.
In West Africa, garri is the flour of the fresh starchy cassava root.
West African cuisine encompasses a diverse range of foods that are split between its 16 countries. In West Africa, many families grow and raise their own food, and within each there is a division of labor. Indigenous foods consist of a number of plant species and animals, and are important to those whose lifestyle depends on farming and hunting.
Nigerian cuisine consists of dishes or food items from the hundreds of Native African ethnic groups that comprises Nigeria. Like other West African cuisines, it uses spices and herbs with palm oil or groundnut oil to create deeply flavored sauces and soups.
Kuli-kuli is a West African snack primarily made from peanuts, first made by the various ethnic groups including the Nupe people of Nigeria and Dagbon people of Ghana. It is a popular snack in Nigeria, Benin, northern Cameroon and Ghana. It is often eaten alone or with a mixture of garri also known as cassava flakes, sugar and water, popularly called "garri soakings". It is also eaten with Hausa koko, fura, and kamu, and is sometimes ground and put into salad. It is often ground and used as an ingredient for suya and kilishi.
The Warri Crisis was a series of conflicts in Delta State, Nigeria between 1997 and 2003 between the Itsekiri, the Ijaw, and the Urhobo ethnic groups. Over 200,000 people were displaced by the Warri conflict between 1999 and 2006. Over 700,000 people were displaced during this period by violence in Delta State overall.
The Itsekiri language is a major branch of the Yoruboid group of languages, which as a group, is a key member of the Volta–Niger sub-family of the Niger–Congo family of African languages. Itsekiri is spoken by nearly 900,000 people in Nigeria as a first language and by many others as an additional language notably in the Niger Delta and in parts of Edo and Ondo states of Nigeria. The other key members of the Yoruboid group are Yoruba and Igala along with the various Yoruba dialects spoken in Benin and Togo.
The Urhobos are people located in southern Nigeria, near the northwestern Niger Delta.
The Kingdom of Warri, Warri Kingdom or Iwere Kingdom, was established in 1480, was part of the Nigerian traditional states its ancestral capital is based in Ode-Itsekiri, Warri South LGA, Delta State, Nigeria with a palace erected in 1950s in the heart of the city of Warri, Warri South LGA, Delta State, Nigeria.
Palm nut soup or banga is a soup made from palm fruit common in the Cameroonian, Ghanaian, Nigerian, Democratic Republic of Congo and Ivorian communities. The soup is made from a palm cream or palm nut base with stewed marinated meats, smoked dried fish, and aromatics. It is often eaten with starch, fufu, omotuo, banku, fonio, or rice. The use of the palm fruit in cooking is significant in Ivorian, Cameronian, Nigerian, Ghanaian, Liberian and other West and Central African cuisine.
Atama soup or Amme-Eddi is also called Banga Soup in pidgin English(Nigerian English) It is a kind of palm-fruit vegetable soup that originates from the Efik people of Cross River state and Urhobo people of Delta State in South South Nigeria. It’s a popularly food among the Delta, Cross River and Akwa Ibom State People of Nigeria. The Urhobo people of Delta state called it Amme-edi or Banga soup. The soup is made from palm fruit-pulp that is derived from palm fruit; the extracted palm-pulp is base primary ingredient for the soup. Atama or Amme-edi(Banga) soup is thick and dark brown in color. It’s normally prepared with choice of protein like fresh meat or dry meat(mostly bush meat), dry fish, fresh fish and sometimes shrimp(dry or fresh), periwinkle as added proteins for more enhanced flavor. Ingredients: primary ingredients are fresh palm-pulp sourced from palm fruit, salt and pepper and secondary ingredients which are decided based on preference of the cooker are onions, salt, pepper(different kinds of pepper are preferences) and different kinds of spices could be added depending on the cooker preferred or desired taste or flavor. This soup could be styled into different flavors depending on cooking preferences. Every added ingredient could drastically change the taste of the food.
Àbùlà is a soup of Yoruba people from Western Nigeria. It is typically eaten together with amala, but can be eaten with other swallow foods. Abula literally means a mixture of soups but is mostly associated with a mixture of gbegiri, ewedu and ọbẹ̀ata (stew).
Banga Rice is a traditional Nigerian food prepared with palm fruit like in palm nut soup. The dish is common among the Urhobo people of southern Nigeria. Banga is the juice extracted from palm nut fruit. It is called Banga rice after the juice extracted from the palm nut is cooked with parboiled white rice.
Spicy cow feet is a delicacy commonly found in restaurants, it is otherwise known as nkwobi. The cuisine is common among the people of Igbo ethnic group. it is a soup made up of cuts from cow feet.
Eka soup, also known as ekuku, is a delicacy of three tribes in the Eastern region of Nigeria. It is prepared from mashed palm kernel, roasted groundnut and benne seeds. Eka soup is commonly eaten with starchy foods such as fufu. Eka Soup is a popular dish among the Idomas of Benue State, the Ogojas in Cross River and the Ibirams of Kogi state.
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Edo traditional food consists of dishes or food items common among the people of Edo State. The State is home to various ethnic groups including the Binis, Ishan (Esan), Afemai, Etsako, Uzebba Iuleha people [Owan] and others. The Traditional food found among these people usually involves soup and swallow. 'swallow' is a term for Nigerian meals that are taken with soup and ingested without chewing.