For the most part Nigerian food isn’t very good. They tend to cook on open fires in a single pot, so everything is mixed together. The children fall into the fires and burn themselves. One of the things we did was revise burn scars. There is almost no meat or protein. When there is chicken or beef or goat it is tough and not tasty. One good dish was ground nut stew. It is chicken in a broth thickened with mashed peanuts, served over rice and topped with whatever fresh fruits are available. It is quite good. The fresh fruits, bananas, pineapples, and melons are also very good. We had fine western style food at the residence.

Pineapple growing wild in the residence yard.

Groundnut stew

And me enjoying it.

Bananas, they are very small

Beans, yams, goat greens. Bland not good

Snails gathered from jungle we sold in markets. I bought some and took them to Mark the cook. Not good. Muddy tasting, but a source of some protein.

Dried fish heads at a market. Dried fish are imported from Norway. The bodies go to the rich people up north and the poor people make a stew from the heads.

Fish head stew, one of the worst things to ever be in my mouth.

Wild coconut and bananas

 They grew behind the hospital.

 “Yams:” a big white tasteless vegetable.

We would trim the out side of sugar cane and chew the pulp for the sweet taste.

Cooking on the open fire.

We could buy pop, “Minerals” at the hospital.

If babies can’t nurse, they die.

This was the only privately owned large food animal I saw during the trip. The young man has him tied to his bicycle, because he can’t leave him. He will be stolen. Note the leash.

Most of the people we encountered were anemic and had other problems related to malnutrition.