How did this age-old food become a national delicacy?
It’s just past nine o’clock in the morning when Mrs Rejoice Steven steps out with a baby on her back to fry another round of akara. Unlike many sellers of akara and yam in Kuje Area Council of Abuja, she’s privileged to have a ready market for this age-old combination, right outside her home’s gate.
From Nigeria’s north to its south, this combination, akara and yam aka Kosh and dosh, is arguably the country’s most popular street food, and Mrs. Steven’s side of the story only begins to explain this.
Angling for an affordable business to start-up, N2000 was enough for her to buy some beans, yam, potatoes and other items she needed to begin frying and selling this fast food. Soon enough, she made an interesting discovery: “some customers like to eat akara and yam when there’s pepper sauce to go with it, and akara and sweet potatoes when there’s no sauce,” she said.
Growing up in Etsako west, Elele Uzarie in Edo State, Idemuza James recalled how yam and akara was enjoyed. “We saw our parents eating the combination. So, even when we are far from home, when we eat yam and akara, we feel at home,” he said, adding that he prefers that particular combination to akara and sweet potatoes which he described as too sweet.
“Potatoes has the tendency of choking me, so yam and akara is just the perfect combination,” Albert Gana, who grew up eating yam and akara in Kaduna backed up James’s argument.
Intriguingly, Olufemi Gbenga who was brought up in Kano is more familiar with just akara pushed down with pap. “I’m from a Yoruba family and that is what I grew up eating,” he said. However, relocating to Abuja in 2018 Gbenga came to enjoy the akara and yam combo.
In some parts of the country, sellers fry only in the mornings and evenings, while some do so throughout the day to meet up with demand. But in yet some areas, yam and akara on display by the roadside is quickly replaced by the sight of warm ash before 12 noon. At least until evening, then the fires are rekindled. But this is different in Lagos, where it’s really big business. Akara is popularly served with pap in the mornings and with fried yam any time of the day.
Made with a combination of bean paste, fresh onions and salt, this delicacy isn’t likely to become unpopular any time in Nigeria’s future.
At Oju-Irin in Agege, still in Lagos, a middle-age woman, Mama Ibeji narrated how she started her business two years ago with just N5, 000 and has no regrets. Another woman, Mrs Okodua whose kiosk is located around Oke-Ira road at Ogba said she started her business 17 years ago. Today, she has customers who can’t do without the food