In North-East Nigeria, Yobe State, the Kare Kare people proudly preserve their rich culinary heritage, passing its traditions through generations.
Their favourite delicacies include; Lamba, Gogale, and Gezi which showcase the community’s unique flavors and cultural identity.
Food is not just for sustenance in Nigeria, it is a cultural cornerstone, a source of pride, and a way of life. From the northern plains to the southern shores, every region boasts of its signature dishes, each a testament to the rich display of Nigerian culinary heritage.
What people eat around the world is heavily influenced by their religion, rituals, customs, traditions, and social and economic status.
Furthermore, people’s lifestyles, practices, belief systems, values, and family history shape their culinary preferences.
Food is clearly important for nutrition, but it’s also meaningful to humans in other ways. Think about it: we’re the only mammals that cook our food. This makes our consumption of nutrients much different.
Do you have childhood memories of eating your favorite cultural meal? Maybe you remember how you eagerly anticipated starting or ending each holiday with your grandmother’s sumptuous delicacies.
Anthropologist Margaret Mead, famously wrote about how food is for gifting. What Mead meant by this is that, food provides us with something more symbolic than simply a nutrition (though that’s certainly important).
Food is meant to be exchanged and shared with family and friends.
Kare kare cuisine is usually made from basically, carbohydrates and protein, complimented by fat and oil and minerals which includes: grains; millet, Guinea corn, bambara nut, beans, wheat, potassium, groundnuts and Palm oil amidst others. Palm oil is also a dominant ingredient utilized in the preparation of kare kare dishes especially for cooking soups.
Most times, soups are a favorite delicacy for the kare kare men, it is also served in large quantities to satisfy their cravings. Similarly in occasions like weddings, funerals, coronation ceremonies and other festivals soups are made in larger quantities more than the swallow that goes with it.
Lamba is the most popular and the best local dish made from maize or guinea corn, bambara nut powder, which are blended into powder. Beans is been soaked and grated into tiny pieces using a mortar and pestle. Sesame leaves and potassium are all poured into a bowl and mixed with water in accurate quantities after which it is packaged inside leather in the modern method but traditionally grains leaves is used to wrap the paste.
Daaɓa, is the soup that goes with it, made from groundnut paste together with salt and pepper. Because in those days Maggi and other spices were not in existence, while some people prefer the lamba with oil and pepper.
According to Mrs. Rhoda a resident of Yobe state she said the second best traditional food is known as “Gohale” which is similar to “Lamba”, according to her preparing this meal involves getting a kind of leaf traditionally called “Jidiben” it has a natural fold that allows for easy opening and closing. You can put the paste inside one side of the leaf and cover it with second part of the leaf. The shape of the leaf is like the heart, which can be closed up.
She continued by saying, “getting the leaf is key after which you prepare a paste with guinea corn, bambara nut, boabab leaf powder and potassium water”.
The amazing aspect of this delicacy is that after you are done cooking and you are serving the meal the aroma from the cooked “Jidiben” leaves is evident even in the taste of the “Gogale”.
However, the kare kare people are very specific about their pancakes, traditional known as “Gezi” which is very similar with the pancakes of nowadays, but the recipe differs which includes: beans and bambara nut powder, boabab leaf powder and a touch of potassium which serves as the yeast to the Gezi mixture compared to the modern pancakes that uses baking powder and the yeast.
Similarly, the kare kare traditional food are from same basic ingredients but the recipes and cooking processes differs. The question is, “what makes their iconic dishes Lamba, Gogale, and Gezi so integral to their cultural identity?”
Meanwhile, this is not something unexpected because the residents of Yobe state and the kare kare people are largely farmers. What they cultivate reflect their reliance on locally sourced ingredients which is their agricultural heritage.
Their traditional dishes are a testament to the rich display of Nigerian culinary diversity.
Hauwa Samuel Bah a 300l student from the department of mass communication, University of Maiduguri.
