STAR FEAT Masa: A delicacy
Masa is a very common meal in most Kebbi homes. It is a major delicacy that majority of people in the community prefer to eat, particularly in the morning before they set out for their daily businesses. The roundly moulded traditional meal otherwise known as Waina is mostly made with rice, wheat or millet. Masa is considered a special delicacy among the people of Kebbi State, hence it is often served at occasions such as marriage events, male child circumcision celebrations, Quranic graduation, thanks giving events, turbaning and child naming ceremonies.
In Birnin Kebbi, it is common to see the young and the old, government officials, security agents, bankers and other society personalities gather at masa joints as early as 8 am. At some joints the sellers usually find it difficult to control the number of customers that are struggling to be served at the same time. It is also common to see people engaging one another in hot arguments, and even quarrelling over who is supposed to be served next by the seller.
Malam Yahya Sarki, a journalist from the royal family in Birnin Kebbi said “Here in Kebbi as well as in other Hausa communities people cherish masa so much. It is a very important meal in every home here. In the morning, we take it as a breakfast. Many people prefer to eat it in the morning, because once they eat it they can stay for a long time without eating any other food. It is common to see many parents coming out in the morning to buy masa for their children to take to school. People in Kebbi regard masa as a very important menu and this informs why it is usually the most preferred meal at occasions such as festivals, weddings, naming ceremonies and many others. Any event or occasion where it is not served is not regarded as important here. Even in the royal houses masa is an important food to them. This shows how important its consumption is to us here.”
Another Kebbi indigene, Alhaji Sahabi Abdullahi who was at one of the masa joints around Aleru Abdul area of Birnin Kebbi, said masa is a regular breakfast meal of his family. “I don’t think there is any other meal we like to eat in the morning in my family other than masa .We love it so much in my family. I hardly go out to buy it because my wife usually prepares it every morning for us. It is one of the few meals that can sustain many families in this period of economic hardship, because it is cheap to make, with little money we can buy masa and we won’t feel hungry . It is not only in Kebbi that people prefer to eat masa .It is also eaten in other communities in the north, because we consider it as an important delicacy. But here we prefer the one that is made with rice.” whatever they want to eat it with such as cow tail, cow leg and chicken. We serve it with vegetable or dried pepper. It depends on what my customers want to eat it with.”
In Kebbi, people love to eat masa and there is hardly any area of Birnin Kebbi that there are no masa joints. Masa sellers are at every government office, motor parks and at every available space in the township. A Customer at one of the masa joints, Abdullahi said “This is so because it is a meal people love so much in this part of the north. Some of us who eat it like it, because once we eat it in the morning it would sustain us through the afternoon ,so all we need is just to be drinking water.”
Zuwaira continued “Every day I start preparing my masa as early as 6 am and by 2 to 3 pm I must have finished selling it, because people patronize me a lot. On daily basis I make use of 12 to 13 bowls of rice to make it. In a day I make up to N31,000 to N32,000 as profit. The least I get as profit sometimes when the patronage is low is N28,000. I buy four cow tails, baking powder, maggi, white rice, flour, yeast and vegetable oil daily to prepare it. I am always here from Monday to