Sunday, July 18, 2010

Discovering Nigerian Cuisine: Abuja

It's been several weeks since I've had time to post. The final 2 weeks of June in Ghana were quite full doing research and preparing to travel to Nigeria to teach a technical writing and communications class. I wasn't quite sure what to expect here in Abuja, but the reality proved to be a huge learning experience for us all: over 70 students and lots of challenges with technology (power, computer access, etc.). The students took their final exam on Sat., July 17, and I'm now marking tests and reviewing each student's portfolio of writing exercises.

I'm also now more free to explore Nigerian cuisine. The cafeteria here at the university serves Nigerian food daily, and I've been enjoying quite a few Nigerian dishes--including seasonal fruit, moinmoin, akara, plus stews with egusi, okra, meat, fish and greens, along with fried yams, plantains, sweet potatoes, eba and jollof rice. However, to mark the end of my classes, yesterday we took a trip into town to the Abuja Hilton. The luncheon buffet was quite pricey, but I had the opportunity to speak with some of the chefs and tasted a variety of regional dishes. I'll be writing about them in the coming days.