10 Signs You Grew Up In Nigeria in 80s (Food Edition)

If you grew up in the late 80s and early 90s in Nigeria, there were some meals that were common to every household. No matter where you grew up or the level of income of your parents, certain staple foods made us equal – at least before they are cooked and served. So for #Throwback Thursday, let’s walk down memory lane.

See more images below:....

1. Sunday rice

 Sunday in every household was ‘rice day.’ If you visited your friend’s house and they were eating eba or beans on a Sunday afternoon, you were left scratching your head: “You people don’t eat rice ni?” And Sunday rice was most often white rice and stew.

2. Jollof rice was for parties

No party, especially children’s birthday parties, was complete without the ‘red’ rice, which was often accompanied by cube-like fried meat. These days, you find variety at most parties but not so much in the late eighties, early nineties.

3. Fried rice was for Christmas

 Unlike these days when fried rice can appear at any time of the year, back then religious holidays were a time for a special treat and the green-coloured rice.

4. Amala was reserved for grandpa

 For the diabetic, amala was viewed as ‘healthy food.’ nowadays the yam based flour has been replaced by wheat.

5. Bread and tea for breakfast

 As in ehn, constant k. And ‘tea’ did not only refer to black tea but was also used for cocoa or any hot drink that came in a cup at breakfast.

6. Eba for lunch

For working mothers, it was easier to make soup on Saturday, then during the week, the kids could bring it out from the freezer and have it with eba for lunch while mom was still at work – simple, easy.

7. Dodo and egg on Saturday morning

 The plantain seller knew not to dull on Saturday morning.

8. Akara and ogi on Saturday too

 The bean cakes take a long process to prepare – picking, washing, peeling and then grinding the beans. That tedious work was better for Saturday morning.

9. Vip or Caprisonne and wafers or okin biscuit for school lunch

There was also Choco Milo, Nabisco, puff and buns, Fan ice cream, Walls ice cream etc.  (The Walls Ice cream didn’t look like the one in the picture though.)

10. Ghana bread and Planta butter

Especially during school breaks, we would wait eagerly for the cries of ‘Ghana bread, Ghana bread,’ followed by the sound of the seller knocking his knife against the metal basin on his head, which held the long cylindrical loaves.

Special mention: corned beef or sardine and bread, jam and bread, Saturday morning pancake, the original Gala with enough beef not the dry mess we have these days… and the list goes on. Let us know in the comments if any of these resonate with you or not. You can also add to the exhaustive list..

SOURCE: NAIJ