Nigeria favorite dish:SWALLOW!

Is been a while I visited the contest game in @dreamsteem and today’s keyword, happens to be a word familiar with a particular Nigerian food. Well, I will take you through the varieties of dishes related to the keyword for this week; “swallow”.

(white garri in it’s raw state)

In Nigeria, there is a very popular food we call Garri. Since I was born till now, I don’t think they have ever advertised this food but it sells more than every food in this country that does all the advertising. Garri is one major food that has been saving Nigerian since world war zero…lol.!

Garri is made up of dried cassava and can be eaten raw or with room temperature water or hot water. But garri is best enjoyed when combined with other dishes like soup and this is were “swallow” comes in. Garri when mixed with hot water forms a solid state that we call “Eba or swallow”.

Eba or swallow is made up of carbohydrates, making it an excellent source of energy. You don’t chew it, you simply swallow it. That’s were the nickname “swallow”, was derived from. However, it lacks significant amounts of protein, vitamins, and minerals. That’s why Is always consumed with highly rich soup and stew that contains all the necessary nutrients or balance diet.

Some people use cutleries to eat it but you won’t enjoy it compared to when you are using your hands to eat it because it’s more satisfying that way. It’s preferable to be eaten during lunch time because of how heavy the food is. For instance, if you eat rice, in the next couple of hours, you will get hungry but when it comes to “swallow”, when you eat it, you can stay a full day without feeling too hungry.

Swallow or Eba comes in different varieties. We have “amala” popular in the Yoruba nation, “Akpu” popular in the ibo nation, “fufu” popular among the Hausa nation and “pounded yam” popular among the ijaw nation. But amongst all this, “swallow or Eba” remains the king. No adverts around it but sells like wild fire.

So, the next time you visit Nigeria just ask for swallow and soup…. Trust me, you won’t regret it.