Palm nut soup or banga is a soup made from palm fruit [1] [2] 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.
Mbanga soup is a palm fruit soup in Cameroonian cuisine [3] [4] and West African cuisine. [5] It is often served with kwacoco. The soup is Cameroon's version of the West African banga, a palm fruit soup eaten in areas including parts of Nigeria. In Cameroon mbanga is made using fresh palm nuts. Outside the area canned nuts can be used. [6]
Banga is a type of palm fruit soup from Southern (the Niger Delta) Nigeria, particularly the itsekiri ethnic group. [7] This cuisine is quite different from ofe akwu, a variant found in Igbo culture. The Binis have a soup from palm fruits similar to ofe akwu" in ingredients and manner of preparation. [8] [9]
In Nigeria, the delicacy is used to accompany other dishes such as Starch (Usi) for the itsekiri people of Delta State, Nigeria. The Igbo people have the stew and soup varieties made from palm fruits. Ofe akwu is the stew variety usually taken with rice while the palm fruit extract is used especially in Anambra region of Igbo land to prepare Oha and Onugbu soup accompanied with moulding foods (popularly known as 'swallow') e.g. pounded cassava (utara/akpu), corn/cassava flour (nni oka). The palm fruit is notably important to the Igbo people.
The palm fruit is often harvested from locally grown palm fruit trees, after which it is thoroughly washed, boiled and mashed for the extraction of its oil, the main ingredient in the preparation of the Banga soup.
Banga soup is flavored with beletete, aidan fruit, rohojie, Banga spice leaves called Obenetietien (scent or bitter leaves can be substituted), a stick of oburunbebe, finely chopped onion, ground crayfish, chili pepper or scotch bonnet, and salt. [10] The soup is eaten with Starch made with Cassava Starch and palm-oil or rice in the south south or south eastern parts of Nigeria . Banga Soup is mostly prepared using fresh catfish (fresh fish Banga soup) dried/smoked fish or meat.
The soup can also make a delicious dish with the addition of Okra vegetable. [11]
Obe Ẹyẹn, also known as banga soup, is a soup eaten by the itsekiri people of Southern Nigeria. It is made by extracting the liquid of palm kernels. Thereafter, other ingredients like crayfish, meat, fish, pepper and cow tripe are added. It is eaten with eba or usi (starch). ( Elaeis guineensis ) extract. [12]
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.
African cuisine is a staple of the continent's culture, and its history is entwined with the story of the native people of Africa. The foods that native Africans eat have been influenced by their religions, as well as by their climates and lifestyles. The first Africans to inhabit the continent were hunter-gatherers who ate what they could find in nature. As agriculture became more common in Africa, so did agriculture-based diets.
Ugali, also known as posho, nsima, and other names, is a type of corn meal made from maize or corn flour in several countries in Africa. It is cooked in boiling water or milk until it reaches a stiff or firm dough-like consistency. In 2017, the dish was added to the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, one of a few foods in the list.
In West Africa, garri is the flour of the fresh starchy cassava root.
Cameroonian cuisine is one of the most varied in Africa due to Cameroon's location on the crossroads between the north, west, and center of the continent; the diversity in ethnicity with mixture ranging from Bantus, Semi-bantus and Shuwa Arabs, as well as the influence of German, French and English colonialization.
The cuisine of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo varies widely, representing the food of indigenous people. Cassava, fufu, rice, plantain and potatoes are generally the staple foods eaten with other side dishes.
Ghanaian cuisines refer to the meals of the Ghanaian people. The main dishes of Ghana are organized around starchy staple foods, accompanied by either sauce or soup as well as a source of protein. The main ingredients for the vast majority of soups and stews are tomatoes, hot peppers, and onions. Most Ghanaian soups and stews are red or orange in appearance as a result of the main ingredients used.
Sierra Leonean cuisine consists of the cooking traditions and practices from Sierra Leone. It follows the traditions of other West African cuisines. The country has 16 tribal ethnic groups.
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.
Central African cuisine includes the cuisines, cooking traditions, practices, ingredients and foods of the Central African Republic (CAR). Indigenous agriculture in the country includes millet, sorgum, banana, yam, okra, yellow onion, garlic, spinach, rice and palm oil. Imported crops of American origin include maize, manioc (cassava), peanuts, chili peppers, sweet potato and tomato. Additional foods include onions, garlic, chiles and peanuts.
Peanut soup or groundnut soup is a soup made from peanuts, often with various other ingredients. It is a staple African cuisine but is also eaten in East Asia (Taiwan), the United States and other areas around the world. It is also common in some regions, such as Argentina's northwest, Bolivia and Peru, where it can sometimes be served with bone meat and hollow short pasta or fries. In Ghana it is often eaten with fufu, omo tuo and banku often very spicy. Groundnut soup is also a native soup of the Benin (Edo) people in Nigeria and it is often eaten with pounded yam. Some of the essential ingredients used in making it are Piper guineense and Vernonia amygdalina.
Aprapransa, originally called 'Akplijii ' is a Ghanaian GaDangme dish prepared by heat mixing roasted corn flour with a sacred GaDangme soup called 'Palm Nut Soup'. As a point of emphasis, 'Palm Nut Soup', an important base ingredient in the preparation of 'Akplijii', is an ancient sacred soup of the GaDangme people, and is always prepared as a complement to another sacred corn flour meal called 'Kpokpoi(or Kpekpele)' during an 'Ancient Religious Hebraic Harvest Festival' called 'Homowo'. The GaDangme people brought these practices along with them to 'Ancient-Ghana' and taught all the tribes how to prepare this delicious 'Palm Nut Soup', just like the 'Akans' taught all the tribes how to prepare their delicious soup called 'Abunebunu(or Ebunuebunu)'. It is worth mentioning that outside Ghana, other tribes such as the Yorubas, Igbos, etc. in Nigeria process 'Palm Nut' in a similar yet different fashion into soup called 'Banga Soup'. Over the course of time, the knowledge of the preparation of 'Palm Nut Soup' in Ghana became common and it lost it sacred status. It may interest Ghanaians to know that the GaDangme people have from 'ancient time' to 'present day', used the palm tree in a number of sacred ways; namely, (1) To prepare a sacred soup called 'Palm Nut Soup',, (2) The burning of the dry figs as incense for spiritual cleansing and to ward-off evil spirits, (3) To build new houses every year made up of new palm tree branches which in our present day has been seriously reduced in practice because of embraced modernity in socio-cultural attitudes, (4) etc. The sacred uses of palm tree is not unique to the GaDangme(or Ga)-Tribe, for it is a common practice among several other tribes in the 'Congo-Niger Family'(or Bantu-Zone) of Africa. Akplijii(or Akplidzi) also known as Aprapransa is a food that is served on special occasions and it is feared to go extinct.
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.
Ofe Oha is a soup mostly eaten in the south eastern part of Nigeria.
Pounded yam or Iyán (Yoruba) or Ruam-Yo (Tiv) is a Nigerian swallow food native to the Yoruba, Igbo Edo, Tiv and Ebira ethnic groups. It is a traditional food. It is prepared by pounding boiled yam with a mortar and pestle. Pounded yam is similar to mashed potatoes but heavier. It is a smooth and tasty delicacy traditionally eaten with the hands.
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.
Ofe achara is an Igbo soup made mainly from Achara and mgbam. Ofe In the language refers to soup.
Ofe Owerri is an Igbo delicacy in the South-Eastern part of Nigeria. The soup is made with snails, beef,assorted meat and fishes.
