THE CHRONICLES OF DAWA-DAWA

By -




(Smells like Sh*t)

Dawa-Dawa(Locust beans), as it is locally called, was an indispensable seasoning in all the delicacies I prepared. At first I swore to never have anything to do with it because of the horrible smell that came along with it. "It is a fly lover. Chai the smell na blast!" But this same lady, my customer, convinced me, and also schooled me on the health benefits of Dawa-dawa: in her words, “google it na, Kopa. It is very very good”. 

I tried it once, and the taste of the soup was unusually sumptuous. And that marked the Genesis of Dawa-dawa in my life!

I even discovered that it has a way of controlling the salty quantity in food. Wow! I found my magic wand; it had no disadvantages, none I have been affected by. I never prepared a meal without a touch of Dawa-Dawa; and like melanin, all the meals I prepared always came out popping. Nobody knew the secret.

My love for it increased in geometric progression, to the extent that I not only added it in my soup, I used it for my "concoction rice", "oil rice", porridge, etc; E remain small I for put am for Tea...

Oh! Dawa-dawa my love! You give me more assurance than Davido.
Dear Husbands, if you think I’m joking ask your wives, she’ll tell you the secret. Cross Riverians can testify!

It never lacked in my reservoir; after my service year when I passed out, I thought it wise to extend this magic wand to mom, so I bought a handful of “Dawa-dawa” when I was traveling back home. 

Dawadawa lives on!
WritingChef 
ItzPr0gr3X

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ONE BIG FAMILY...THE PARTY!

By -
Image
We organized a Christmas party to celebrate their recovery and liberation as well as thank God for his blessings. The party was organised by the hospital team and also supported by the 'Help Wihtout Boundaries' Foundation. The event took place on the 22nd December 2018, at the Federal Neuro Psychiatric hospital in Calabar, graced by the head of clinical operations Dr Ekpe, the consultant psychiatrist in charge of their case Dr Oluntoki, Oberiko Progress other doctors, nurses, social workers, guests and other patients in the hospital. You can imagine the feeling of extreme joy Ben and his family had as they celebrated Christmas. To every normal child Christmas is special, it is a season where they look forward to new clothes, an outing and unlimited fun but to these kids Joy, Ebenezer and Joshua who had no idea what Christmas means, nor looked forward to any new clothes, it was an extraordinary occasion and an amazing feeling as they had the opportunity to wear new clo...
Read more

ONE BIG FAMILY...BEFORE greets AFTER

By -
Image
#ONE_BIG_FAMILY It’s been over two months since their story shook the internet. A family of five that was known for their bizarre lifestyle and affliction. Ben, his wife and three kids for over seven years roamed the hinterlands of Bekwarra-Ogoja, Cross River State in search of nothing in particular. Adorned in their customary rags and spotting dreadlocks, which is typical of insane people in Nigeria, they found a home sleeping in open fields and in the cold. Two months after
Read more

Peem Peeeeem‼️

By -
Image
  I was sitting in a bus and it was one of those rare occasions when the driver horned about twice, because of another car trying to overtake (I can literally count how many times I’ve heard cars honk in London), and this little kid whose mom was beside her was so shocked by the bus horning, and she exclaimed: “what was that for”?  😳  Then her mom began to explain to her why there was need for the horn.  I looked at the kid and smiled; I shook my head. In my mind, I was like: you need to visit my country—where horns are not only used to warn rough drivers, but also used to communicate: to say hello,  weldone o,  how far na,  your daddy dey house?  Fine girl, I like you! to call the attention of a salesperson at a shop,  to cuss,  ‪to ask “where my money na?”‬ to alert danger, And even used when a driver is scared,  😂   Car horns in Nigeria are so symbolic, and the interesting part is that we understand the language when we he...
Read more

A Review of The Harvard Business Review series, AND MORE!

By -
Image
  I eventually saw the end of this book as I promised. Yaaaay! It may not seem like an achievement to others but I count it as such because for the past few years I’ve not been able to bring myself to complete reading a book. As a matter of truth, I still have Chimamanda’s ‘ Half of a Yellow Sun ’ on my bookshelf, waiting to be completed. It was one of the gifts I received on my 21st birthday, and I found it quite captivating at the beginning when I started reading. But once I got to the chapter where it spoke more about the Biafra war and politics, I saw my interest dwindling. Not a fan of politics at all. But now, I think I need to return to that book, maybe not just to continue from the page I left off, but to start all over again. So, on my way to Scotland, I ran into a duty-free shop at the airport and saw some really good books that got me salivating, and I got this Harvard Business Review series on Emotional Intelligence focusing on Confidence. Not confidence as you know it,...
Read more

OFFICER BAYO

By -
Image
Naso o for Obubra camp, dem worry me taya. Dats how on my first day in camp, one soldier just saw me as I was struggling to carry my bag into the camp ground, he nor pity me o, started by asking which state I'm from, and who I was talking to on the phone, I nor understand, (so somebody canor make call again ni?) so I responded "it's my mom sir", he said eerrh, 'Oya drop da call now and run inside the camp with your bags on your head'!  His command was sharp. I den flashed back to the testimonies of people about how soldiers flogged them, naso I silently concur and ran inside with my plenty luggage, one on my head and two in my both hands.  The female soldiers dey trip me I swear. They're so gallant and agile in their uniforms. Their ginger is dope .  I can imagine their husbands dare not raise a finger  e lse he'll be taught the lesson of his manhood. Their voice alone fit make person piss for body .  I kon enta wahala o, there was this part...
Read more

WHAT A JOURNEY!

By -
Image
Mom: Where una don reach now? Me: We stee dey Benin o Mom: Una don too tay na! It was a Lagos trip, the whole delay started from the point I paid for my ticket. I wait wait wait soteeee! I almost grew lean! There were so many passengers but bus was yet to come. Got to the park by 7:am and after spending like 30mins waiting for the Agofure bus to come and pick us to Lagos, the attendant suggested we join one of their buses which took us to another Agofure park in Warri just to get more passengers heading the Lagos way. It took another 30mins to arrive Warri and took another 30mins to get the bus filled. Time don dey go, Twas 9am already, people started complaining. Oga move this motor Abeg!  Finally finally we zoomed off, and before you know it, we were in Benin. My brothers and sisters coman see Traffic!  When will we leave here? The whole place was jammed up, no where to turn. Everybody was wallowing in delirium, sweat oozing from every co...
Read more

THE JUICY LIQUID

By -
Image
The first time I had it, it tasted so MILKY. And I liked it. I sucked it very slowly and savored the LIQUID, the feeling left me in appetence.... swimming in my nostalgia. I drained all the liquid down my gullet... The fact that it was very chilled made it flow down my system so swiftly. As a matter of fact, it took him a whole lot to convince me to try it. Because I’ve always been very meticulous and skeptical about any kinda “canned handmade concoction” of any sort. He went further deeper in his job of trying to convince me, and another voice joined him, spelling out how nutritious it was, and how good it is in the body. After too many stories, I gave in .... And I said Lemme 'kukuma' try this thing sef! It was a fruit drink galore. She ordered sugar cane juice, he had Bitrus or B-whatever, while I decided to try it for the second time. As soon as I mentioned that I’d love to have TIGER-NUT JUICE, the table turned! And all eyes became focused on me. The m...
Read more

UNDER PRESSURE

By -
Image
  Organizations should help us stop lying about this.  As for me, I can’t work so well  under pressure. First of all, why do you want to even put me under pressure? Don’t you know it’ll affect my mental well-being? Come to think of it, a well-organized organization will plan ahead of time, inform their employees, and take the necessary precautions ahead of time. Why are you making it look like an employee is inefficient or incapable if they’re unable to work under pressure? What's the idea behind being able to work under pressure sef? Pressure puts people under tension and anxiety, especially me!  😂   You need to see me when I’m running late for mass, about to miss a train, or late for an appointment; I speak to objects as though they had ears, everything on my way must give way, otherwise, ' wahala ' for them. I’d be speaking to myself, vex anyhow, rush, and just go Gaga!  😂   I remember when I was about to miss a deadline for submitting a project, ...
Read more

SUCKING

By -
Image
When I first saw them sucking, so many thoughts ran through my mind; I couldn’t help but wonder what manner of food that could be. Although I was very young, I could still replay the look on their faces whenever they sucked. I’m referring to the 'Calabar' neighbor we had, whose kitchen was marked by the unique redolence. The aroma alone does a public announcement that they are “Calabarians”. I dunno if you’ve tried this sucking before; but my first time was with Afang soup. Afang soup makes no sense without  “suckables” in it. Omg...I lack words to describe By now you’re wondering what exactly this thing is ... “Mfi”, as it is locally called, is simply unshelled periwinkles. It is mostly eaten by Cross Riverians and Akwa Ibomites; and it is characterized by so much sand content. You can tell when someone is cooking with “Mfi” during the washing... The process is so tedious. Enough water and enough patience are the basic tools for washing, as it makes so much nois...
Read more