The first country I visited outside Nigeria was the United States. We were a group and it was a business vacation. Interestingly, we eat a lot of foreign cuisines in Nigeria thanks to fast food joints and also intercontinental restaurants. But trying these foods on foreign soil is a whole new experience.
On the first night, we went to this underground restaurant (American River Restaurant at the Harvey’s and Harrah’s Resort where we were lodged) and were given a menu. The first thing we noticed was how affordable their foods were. Back here in Nigeria, hotel foods are pretty expensive; guests actually leave their hotels to go and eat outside. But abroad, we noticed, people actually leave their homes to go and eat in hotels and restaurants.
Anyways, I settled for spaghetti and meatballs and advised my friends to do same but they refused. They opted for white rice and meat, thinking it would come with stew. I warned them. Food arrived and they got white rice quite alright with chicken but no stew. See in Nigeria, white rice always has to come with stew. My meatballs came with too much tomato sauce so I was happy to share.
Next trip was to Singapore. Got to our hotel at night. It was the world’s famous Marina Bay Sands. After checking in to our rooms, we went looking for a restaurant. Found one and well, noodles was the more popular option, so we ordered it. Now I was about to discover that commercially packed noodles we knew back home in Nigeria was a whole lot different from what obtained other parts of the world. Asia in particular. I was shocked to be served noodles in a bowl with lots of water in it. Let’s call it soup. It also had something that looked like dumplings. Anyways, we enjoyed it. I also got to try miso soup, and sushi here. Beef teriyaki is quite popular and I made them back home so I didn’t care for it.
Singapore was the first place and time I ate potato wedges with the skin on it. It was grilled with chicken and very delicious. In Nigeria, we peel off the entire skin and boil or fry.
In Mexico, we were so happy to find rice, beans and plantains at our hotel’s restaurant. Wasn’t quite sure Mexicans eat it but I assumed they pulled the stops for African guests. All Nigerians rushed to that section of the buffet table. I was able to try guacamole, tacos and tortilla before I left. I even started learning a few Mexican words as the weather and people were quite friendly.
In Singapore, some Nigerian spent over an entire afternoon looking for rice and beans. Don’t know how he found it but he spent about $30 for a plate and got ketchup when he kept insisting on stew. Lol
A lady in our team who wasn’t so adventurous only did burgers, chicken and chips from McDonald’s until we left.
But the whole thing made me realise something about Nigerians. We love our food too much. Wherever we find ourselves, we look for Nigerian foods and almost seem to have a hatred for foods from other parts of the world. It takes us a while to warm up to foods from other cultures. We don’t mind paying extra for our foods. We don’t mind importing them too. People who travel with garri and yaji? 🤣🤣🤣 And of course, we don’t mind sharing our foods with others. But sharing is a two-way street. We can only hope people embrace our foods when we also embrace theirs.
If you’re not so adventurous or sure of what to try whenever you travel, you’re a lot safer with Italian, Mexican and Japanese cuisines. Let’s not forget to add Mediterranean cuisines too. Personally, Indian cuisines didn’t sit well in my system but I’d take their ghee and butter garlic naan any day.
I also realised we need to push more of our cuisines to the world. Italians gave the world rissoto, pizza and pasta. Nigeria has so many tasty meals the world needs to know of. From jollof rice to moinmoin, pepper soup, our vegetable soups and more. The world needs to know of egusi and fisherman soup. And also our street foods like bolé, suya, kilishi, akara et al.
Also, we need to be proud to call our foods by their real names. No modifications to suit foreigners. They’re not modifying theirs so we should be proud to call ours by their names.
So, we still have a lot of work to do.
But if I have to travel for fun, food destinations would be my main catch cos after two days in a place, the food will determine if I would want to continue to stay or return home.
I’m not such an adventurous eater. I’m somewhere in between love for my country and curious.
- Joy Mfon Essien is an Entrepreneur and the CEO, Discover Essence Media, Millionaire Woman Soapworks and Delicioso Foods. Writer, TV presenter and producer, Wellness Coach and mom of two.
