country Essentials · 12 foods
Nigeria Essentials
A considered first route through Nigeria: the foods that carry its everyday habits, celebrations, ingredients, and memory.
Explore all Nigeria foods →THE
ESSENTIALS
The complete shortlist
12 foods to know.
Each selection includes the reason it belongs here—so this is a guide, not just a pile of names.
Cameroon
Nigerian Jollof Rice
Jollof rice
Rice cooked down in pepper and tomato until the pot catches — the smoke is the whole argument.
Nigeria
Egusi Soup
Egusi
Ground melon seed set into soft lumps in palm oil, with greens and assorted meat through it.
Niger
Suya
Beef rubbed in groundnut and chilli yaji, grilled on a wood fire and dusted again before wrapping.
Nigeria
Pounded Yam
Iyan
Yam pounded in a mortar until it stretches, pinched off in balls and dipped into soup.
Nigeria
Efo Riro
Ẹ̀fọ́ riro
Spinach fried into a pepper and palm oil base with fermented locust bean doing the seasoning.
Liberia
Pepper Soup
A thin, ferocious broth of goat or catfish with uda and calabash nutmeg, drunk more than eaten.
Ghana
Akara
Àkàrà
Whipped bean batter fried in balls at dawn and eaten hot with sour maize pap.
Ibadan, Nigeria
Ewedu
Jute leaf beaten smooth with a bundled whisk and poured over amala beside gbegiri and ishtu.
Nigeria
Moin Moin
Mọ́ín mọ́ín
The same bean batter steamed in leaves with egg or fish set inside, wobbling when it is right.
Nigeria
Nkwobi
Cow foot in a palm oil and potash emulsion with uziza, served warm in a carved wooden bowl.
Guinée Forestière (Nzérékoré / Forest), The Gambia
Palm Wine
Emu
Tapped from the tree and fermenting as you carry it, so morning and evening are different drinks.
Lagos, Nigeria
Chapman
Fanta, blackcurrant, bitters and cucumber over ice — invented in a Lagos club, now on every menu.