Kemi Ariyo and Kavachi Ukegbu at Wazobia Market
We're hungry 'cause we're talking about Nigerian food, what is Nigerian food, right? Before talking to you about it, would you like to taste it? Yes. Please come with me. This is my kitchen. I love it! So first, I want to show you this is our authentic Nigerian jollof rice. Jollof rice! I'm telling you it doesn't get any better than this. That's a big pot. It is! Jollof rice, it's almost like noodles in Southeast Asia. You find a version of it all over West Africa. The key ingredients is rice, tomatoes, onions, and peppers. Jollof rice, when I taste it, this is like the base of so many rice. Yes! Jollof rice is found, obviously, in New Orleans and all throughout the Bayou. Also, Spanish Paella, very similar, right. But jollof rice is the rice that every variations from West Africa, from the Caribbeans, from all over, like you can tell that it's migrated in different regions with it's own twist. Yeah, it's delicious. Store looks good! How does this? Honestly, how does this make you feel, though? This is, this is really such a variety right? Just the idea of being at Wazobia is just means so much to me because I can truly remember when I was small and to feel like we were different. Yeah, your clothing was different, your culture was different. You kind of never fit in. So different for us, and I remember when it was international day at school, when my teacher said that this was everyone's opportunity to bring a dish from your country. What did you bring? My mom actually made stew with white rice. I was so happy. I was like finally you understand where I'm from, you understand my food, you understand everything about me. My teacher gave me back my dish and told me, "tell your mom 'thank you' but we didn't know what it was." What? They didn't give it out to the kids? No and that little third grade me was like, "but you never asked me what it was!" Yeah. But this was back in the 90s, you know. So we were just that little small international aisle. Now we're Wazobia. This is us. We have arrived, we have arrived. So when you are in Africa, most Africans think of themselves as black but it's not something that you are conscious of as a daily reality. But when you get here, and you come into a culture where there is black and white divisions, there is a kind of mental disorientation that follows that and so in that kind of situation, you want to control your realities, you want deflect the indignities of racism and you also want to assert yourself. Like Nigerians, for instance, are very proud people. And what they did was to form a very strong and tight community because that's how we protect ourselves.
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