Taste the Festive Delight of West African Jollof Rice - Essay Sample

Introduction

Jollof Rice is an extremely popular dish throughout West Africa (originally from the Ashanti, Yoruba, and Igbo tribes) and in Liberia. The dish consists of rice with tomatoes, onions, peppers, chili and spices that can be served with chicken, veal, eggs, turkey or fish (Adam). However, vegetarians choose to accompany it with male bananas and/or Liberian salad (vegetables, greens, and fruit). Jollof rice is a fairly festive meal. Its presence is not limited to Christmas celebrations but is also served at weddings, birthdays or baby showers. For those occasions, rice is usually given more elaborate ways to serve it, to give it a more festive look.

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The ingredients needed are a kilo of cooked meat (chicken, smoked pork, beef, fish, turkey or bacon ), olive oil, green peppers, ginger, yellow onion, salt, water, black pepper, crushed red pepper, rice, thyme, fried tomato, and whole tomato. One starts by sauteing the meat cut into small pieces with half a cup of oil to fry everything until it is golden brown (Generalissimo). Using a pan, one does the same with a cup of finely sliced yellow onion and tomato and ground pepper (in addition to other optional chopped or ground spices), another half of green peppers also cut into thin slices and a half more ginger. Two or three whole tomatoes are then added into the mixture and everything is simmered for about five minutes (African Recipes). A couple of cans of fried tomato are then added, lowered with water, a tablespoon of salt, another of thyme, another of crushed red pepper, half more of black pepper. Then the cooked meat is put in the mixture and put on low heat for about twenty minutes. The rice is poured into a dish/colander, washed with cold tap water and let it drain. One then puts the oil, bacon, rice, and onion in a casserole letting the rice cool for 5 minutes. One then adds the meat broth and the tomato concentrate, stirring the whole. The broth is added and the rice is cooked in this mixture until it absorbs all the liquid and adopts its characteristic red color (West African Cooks). This recipe specifically for the Liberian Jollof, since the preparation of Jollof rice in each country, is different and even within the same country, there are variations. As stated before, it can be vegetarian but it is also cooked with chicken or meat.

Jollof rice is one of the most consumed dishes in West Africa, but mainly in Ghana, Gambia, Liberia, Senegal, and Nigeria. Nigeria and Ghana proclaim themselves as the inventors of this delicious meal. On Twitter and Facebook, there are heated discussions on who the originators of Jollof rice were and which nation cooks the most delicious Jollof rice. According to Adam (2017), the origin of Jollof can be traced back in the Senegambia region among people who were known as the Wolof. However, the Wolof did not call it Jollof, it was named benachin. There were many cultural exchanges and intermarriages that took place between people of West African nations and as such, the meal also spread among these nations.

Jollof rice is a highly revered meal in West Africa and this was noted when Jamie Oliver published a recipe for the meal in 2014. Many Nigerians, Liberians, and Ghanaians criticized the recipe saying that it was inaccurate and not a true representation of any of the Jollof rice prepared in Africa (Gabriela). In 2013, Tesco Supermarket (founded in 1919), one of the largest supermarket chains in the world (and also the third-largest retailer worldwide in terms of gross revenue and the 9th largest retailer worldwide in terms of revenue), was forced to remove a recipe of Jollof Rice that it had posted on its website after many people complained on Twitter that the recipe was inaccurate (Gabriela). Tesco owns about 7000 shops and has stores in Asia and Europe and yet it had to take down the recipe to avoid offending anyone. In Africa, people take their traditional meals seriously that was why they rejected Jamie's recipe and Tesco's recipe as well.

Gastronomy is not only limited to the primary objective of killing hunger, with all its variations it presents itself as a tool for the spread of culture and represents the most diverse peoples and traditions. When it comes to a continent as complex as Africa, it is even more difficult, to sum up, the food preferences of its people. The way of making, the selected ingredients, the breeding, and the dishes reflect the environment in which each person lives and all the tradition and history that surrounds the place (Adam). When talking about the West and Central Africa, their meals and cuisine were much less influenced by Europeans than the others such as Southern Africa and Northern Africa (African food admin). With minimal contact with the outside, the cuisine of these two regions remains close to traditional ingredients and techniques and this can be observed in the preparation of Jollof.

There are several reasons why I chose this dish and why it is important to me. In Liberia, as in most of the world, families gather to eat a lot and celebrate at Christmas. It is the most important celebration of the year and the Christmas season takes place from December 1 to January 10, with the days of December 24 to 27 being the most important. In Liberia, Christmas without jollof rice or fried rice is not Christmas; it is part of the Christmas joy. When I was little, after eating jollof rice and drinking our soda, we would dress in our new Christmas clothes and go to the homes of family friends to eat more rice Jollof and fried rice. We used to eat until our stomachs were full and barely and we could move. As children, it was our most favorite food and until to date, it remains so.

Works Cited

Adam, Hakeem. "A Brief History of Jollof Rice, a West African Favourite." Culture Trip, The Culture Trip, 20 Jan. 2017, theculturetrip.com/africa/ghana/articles/a-brief-history-of-jollof-rice-a-west-african-favourite/

African food admin. "HISTORY OF JOLLOF RICE." African Food Tour Concept, 30 Oct. 2017, Retrieved from www.africanfoodtourconcept.com/jollof-rice-2/.

African Recipes. "Liberian Jollof Rice." African Recipes Secrets, July 2019, Retrieved from www.african-recipes-secrets.com/jollof-rice.html.

Gabriela Torres. "Africans Reject Jamie's Jollof Rice Recipe." BBC News, BBC, 30 Oct. 2014, www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-29831183.

Generalissimo. "The Hirshon Liberian Jollof Rice." The Food Dictator, 27 Feb. 2016, Retrieved from www.thefooddictator.com/the-hirshon-liberian-jollof-rice/.

West African Cooks. "Liberian Jollof Rice." Liberian Jollof Rice | West Africa Cooks, Apr. 2017, Retrieved from www.westafricacooks.com/africa/liberian-jollof-rice.