Food is a love language.

March 31, 2025 jacquelineobyikochaLeave a comment

I am a foodie. Definitely so. I also fancy myself an adventurous eater; but I draw the line on creepy and slimy stuff – no thank you.

Countless memories of my childhood are firmly cemented in events involving food, in large quantities. Mum making omelets on her large, well-loved and used skillet, big pots of well-seasoned jollof rice and chicken, beef stew simmering on the kitchen stove on Sunday afternoons, beans porridge with fried plantains, yam and vegetable sauce, bean cakes with pap, muffins, eggs and sausages, a long list of different tasty meals made each day to nourish us with love.

Lest I forget, every pot was prepared with extra to spare just in case a neighbour came visiting, or one of our friends dropped by to play and this practice was common within the community. We all knew what was cooking in our friends’ homes and we chose when to go visiting so that we would partake of those food that we loved. There were no Instagram photos back then, but those well-prepared healthy plates of food are fondly etched on my memory bank.

Festive and celebratory times were simply the best. Women in my extended family buzzed around my grandma’s big kitchen in the village, their laughter mingled in the air whilst they whipped up more than a dozen recipes of wholesome food to cater to different palates – vegetarian dishes, non-vegetarian dishes etc. My least favourite part whilst assisting in the kitchen was to turn the sizzling pot of tomato stew with a large wooden ladle to ensure that it didn’t burn, but of course, I didn’t mind a taste especially when morsels of meat were added to the mix, and I could get a little bite under the pretext of checking whether it’s well done.

The blend of aromas from big crock pots of food was sensational and satisfying that it literally lit up all your senses. We ‘the children’ ate our fill from the labour of love with appreciation in hearts and went to nap with bellies full. Till this day, family get-togethers and sharing delicious meals with loved ones remains one of my favourite sensory experiences that evokes feelings of warmth, love, comfort and connection in me.

As I grew older, I figured out cooking from these experiences shared in my mother and grandmothers’ kitchen. Knowing just the right amount of salt, pepper and spices to add to a pot of food didn’t come from a recipe book, but from keen eyes watching the loving fingers of the women in my family de-seed pepper, slice vegetables, whip up an instant pot of delicious food whilst at the same time telling us folktales that had strong moral lessons tucked within them.

Tomatoes, tomatoes, to buy some fresh things….

February 13, 2019 jacquelineobyikocha11 Comments

For several weeks now, I’ve been more adventurous with food and have been paying extra attention to eating generous portions of fresh fruits and veggies more than I possibly did last year and I must say that I see good results ‘cos my skin certainly feels clearer and my bowels happier 🙂

While foraging for my weeks’ supply, I ran into these luscious Riccio Fiorentino tomatoes in the organic section and was certainly attracted to them due to their deep red colour and their trademark ridges. I do love eating tomatoes and learnt to juice and eat them fresh like my daddy, however, I certainly balk at spending a king’s ransom on vegetables.

I thought I could just buy a kilo or two but was forced to drop them like hot potatoes when after it was weighed the cost of my 6 tomatoes was enough to buy me my entire basket of vegetables for the week. I felt a bit disappointed and settled for my regular everyday tomatoes all the while thinking of the sweet, rich flavour of those beauties.

Am I the only one who feels that the prices of these organic products are most times irritatingly exorbitant and exaggerated?

Cooking · Family · Guide To Better Living

Finding Books Which Can Help You To Cook

November 16, 2018November 16, 2018 jacquelineobyikocha5 Comments

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Cooking has long been a very large part of human society. Going far beyond a simple means of survival, this element can dominate a big part of your life, with loads of public holidays and special events being impossible without the stuff. Of course, though, it’s not always easy to know where to look for help in this rot of area. To give you an idea of the sort of places you can find cooking support, this post will be going into the past, focusing on books to give you an idea of what you have available.

Research and Science

Most people’s first thoughts when reading something like this will be that all of the cooking books out there are dedicated to recipes alone. In reality, though, the science of cooking and nutrition are very popular topics, too, and there are loads of books on the market which focus on these areas. By reading options you like this, you will make it much easier to control the food you eat. Examples like the Big Fat Surprise are great for this. Not only do they offer a lot of knowledge, but they do it in a very easily digestible way, which is something most publications will struggle to manage.

Recipes

Of course, while they aren’t the only option on the market, it would be hard to cover an area like this without thinking about the recipe books which you have available. Regardless of the type of food you want to cook, the ingredients you’d like to use, or the time you have to do it all, you will be able to find a quality recipe book with no trouble at all if you follow the right route. By reading a blog or two, you will discover loads of options like this. You may have to sift through some examples which you don’t like very much, but this will be worth it once you find a recipe which turns your life around. This can be used a tool to spark some family fun.

Technique and Safety

Finally, as the last area to consider, it’s time to think about the way you handle yourself in the kitchen. Learning how to cook in often just as much about the techniques which you use as the recipes you find to put together. Some people are naturally very good at this, while others will struggle, and might need some help along the way. Thankfully, there are loads of instruction manuals out there which are designed to be used by chefs to make sure that they are doing the right things with their cooking. It will take a long time to improve skills like this, but you will also need to know how to improve them.

Hopefully, this post will inspire you to start working harder on the time which you put into making your cooking better. A lot of people struggle with this sort of work, finding it hard to know where to go when they want to make a difference.

Cooking · Guest Posts

How to preserve your tomatoes and pepper sauce using jam bottles. Guest Post

July 10, 2016January 28, 2017 jacquelineobyikocha20 Comments

Are you concerned that the only way you can preserve fruits, vegetables and tomato paste is only by refrigerating? Some people just want their vegetables fresh; I mean in our generation we preserve everything by adding preservatives that sometimes are not as healthy as we think. No wonder then that we battle with so many new diseases in our times.

Some people just want their vegetables fresh; I mean in our generation we preserve everything by adding preservatives that sometimes are not as healthy as we think. No wonder then that we battle with so many new diseases in our times.

At a women’s group meeting, we got talking about how women from our mother’s generation seem to be stronger than our own generation. By that we mean the number of children they gave birth to (a football team 😉 they worked outside their homes and still managed to run large households; plus they live longer.

In the opinion of many of the women present, our mothers fed their families with fresh vegetables and foods planted in their home gardens. Every time they want to prepare a meal all they had to do was pluck a few tomatoes, carrot, and cucumber and so on and a sumptuous meal is set. Interestingly this helped saved some of the resources which were used to provide for other needs of the family.

So how do we manage our homes and resources as women? Not so long ago the cost of tomatoes skyrocketed and the supply of electricity became a once in three week’s activity (in my country, Nigeria). In the absence of a refrigerator, here is what I learned about keeping your tomatoes and pepper paste fresh with no additives.

• Buy the amount of tomatoes, pepper and Tatashe you want; blend to your taste then boil until it is no more watery and it forms a thick paste.
• Get small and big sizes of your empty jam jars…fill each with your tomatoes and pepper paste still steaming hot; cork or close lid tightly.
• Next, get a big pot and arrange your jar bottles in it, then pour some water but not to the brim. Place the pot with your jam bottles containing your paste on a stove; allow boiling for ten minutes.
• Switch off the gas, ensure again that the lids of your containers are tightly corked then arrange them on an airy place on your shelves.
The freshness of your blended tomatoes and pepper paste would last for three months.

Note:
• For each jar of tomatoes that you pick to cook, finish using the contents once the lid has been opened.
• Pay attention to seasons of the year that tomatoes and pepper become expensive and prepare ahead by buying in bulk and preserve using the above method.

Fresh foods are healthier and safer. Have a backyard/home garden.

Adebisi Adetunji

Quick glossary:

Tatashe is a red species of Capiscum/Pepper that’s native to Nigeria. It’s not the same as Bell Peppers and used for its flavour and rich colour given to stews and other West African dishes.

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