I read some articles online and i was shocked to see that most food crops were original foreign to africa ,and most of this food crops were brought by the Portuguese sailors and arab merchant
It is believed that sugarcane ,watermelon were brought to the North by Arabs merchant and other common found in northern, in southern nigeria which Portuguese had visited especially the benins it is belived they introduced yam to Benin ,yam had been imported from asia to west africa by the Portuguese, which probably had made the benin traditional delicacy pounded yam and eguisi ,
I doubt if the articles was actually true ,reading through the articles it looks like all food crops were imported and foreign to Africans especially west africa so what then did we eat before the arrival of this food crops.....?


How true could this be nlanders

We already had yams, pepper, vegetables, plantains and several palm trees species , cocoa etc in Eastern and Southern Nigeria. The North was known for her groundnuts, onions etc. That story is not fully true. Infact some of the plants in Asia and Europe were taken from Africa

i read somewere that Africa had a challenge of sustainable foods in ancient times,and that was why we had a challenge developing at the same pace as others.This book guns,germs and steel by p.diamond also explains that.Africa did not have as many naturally occuring edible foods like other regions as we have today which is said contributed to our slow development.

babasolution:
i read somewere that Africa had a challenge of sustainable foods in ancient times,and that was why we had a challenge developing at the same pace as others.This book guns,germs and steel by p.diamond also explains that.Africa did not have as many naturally occuring edible foods like other regions as we have today which is said contributed to our slow development.

Yea, i could believe this , Portuguese resided in sao tome in africa were they had to train local inhabitants on cultivation,
On the fact that africans were mainly not travellers ,it took the effort of travellers to bring varieties of crops to the shores of africa

HallaDaTruth:
We already had yams, pepper, vegetables, plantains and several palm trees species , cocoa etc in Eastern and Southern Nigeria. The North was known for her groundnuts, onions etc. That story is not fully true. Infact some of the plants in Asia and Europe were taken from Africa

You are making mere claims and that is unnecessary ,the articles weren't completely wrong because they gave full prove which are substantial,
It is no news garri is not even african food then makes you feel garri that is so common to nigeria is foreign and the others were original...
Cassava we all know is foreign

gregyboy:



Yea, i could believe this , Portuguese resided in sao tome in africa were they had to train local inhabitants on cultivation,
On the fact that africans were mainly not travellers ,it took the effort of travellers to bring varieties of crops to the shores of africa

Africans were probably not travellers because of challenges like the food problem,to travel you have to store food,and it was said Africa did not have many foods that could easily be stored.Its not that they were not travellers because they didnt want to travel,Africans travelled on land a lot,remember also that the horse was not native to Africa,even the camel and donkey,some travelling far was ardous on foot.

Sugarcane and watermelon are the main cultivation that is being done in South Africa. there are many other cultivation and crops that are being made there but mostly you cannot make the best diamonds rings near me use of the time. It is based on the season.

babasolution:


Africans were probably not travellers because of challenges like the food problem,to travel you have to store food,and it was said Africa did not have many foods that could easily be stored.Its not that they were not travellers because they didnt want to travel,Africans travelled on land a lot,remember also that the horse was not native to Africa,even the camel and donkey,some travelling far was ardous on foot.

Africans never made of thier environment
Their disadvantage of this necessity should have led to thier development, europeans annexed Thiers which led them ahead ,
The Portuguese set to sea because of their bad economy in Portugal in search of what could restore back their economy but Africans relied 90% on thier gods for free thinking
It is not sad to me that this fact are true but its said because the whitemen had brought them,if africans had sailed to bring them there would have been a dignity in it

gregyboy:



Africans never made of thier environment
Their disadvantage of this necessity should have led to thier development, europeans annexed Thiers which led them ahead ,
The Portuguese set to sea because of their bad economy in Portugal in search of what could restore back their economy but Africans relied 90% on thier gods for free thinking
It is not sad to me that this fact are true but its said because the whitemen had brought them,if africans had sailed to bring them there would have been a dignity in it

its a lie,you are brainwashed,the portugese learnt sailing from the moors,also improved technology from them also,besides the europeans already had some experience with improved way of doing things due to the availability of some naturally occuring aids like horses,which they used for not just transport but machines for work.You guys alsways rail on Africans,remember when the dutch met the kingdom of benin they compared it to amsterdam.You guys are just brainswashed thinking African were just some stupid people saved by whites.Infact our ancestors were better advanced than us,better technology led to the enslavement an ruin of Africa ,we had to start from scratch to build after being destroyed many times

babasolution:


its a lie,you are brainwashed,the portugese learnt sailing from the moors,also improved technology from them also,besides the europeans already had some experience with improved way of doing things due to the availability of some naturally occuring aids like horses,which they used for not just transport but machines for work.You guys alsways rail on Africans,remember when the dutch met the kingdom of benin they compared it to amsterdam.You guys are just brainswashed thinking African were just some stupid people saved by whites.Infact our ancestors were better advanced than us,better technology led to the enslavement an ruin of Africa ,we had to start from scratch to build after being destroyed many times

The benin you praise have 40% of Portuguese cultural influence and they have 0% influence coming from benin

The popular pounded yam and eguisi
That is originally a Benin food and most nigerians have adopted to a general food was influenced by Portuguese,
Portuguese had brought yam to benin first in west africa which was later developed to pounded yam by the benin people we are yet to know if the melon plant was also foreign ,
The red coral beads worn by most nigerians was also brought by the Portuguese as raw materials which the benins made their beads from lets not talk about the white and red linen clothes

There is no originality in west african culture

gregyboy:



The benin you praise have 40% of Portuguese cultural influence and they have 0% influence coming from benin

The popular pounded yam and eguisi
That is originally a Benin food and most nigerians have adopted to a general food was influenced by Portuguese,
Portuguese had brought yam to benin first in west africa which was later developed to pounded yam by the benin people we are yet to know if the melon plant was also foreign ,
The red coral beads worn by most nigerians was also brought by the Portuguese as raw materials which the benins made their beads from lets not talk about the white and red linen clothes

There is no originality in west african culture

Egusi is not a bini food

My sister have stayed in Edo state where they call it Melon and never eguisi or whatever you claim

agadez007:
Egusi is not a bini food

My sister have stayed in Edo state where they call it Melon and never eguisi or whatever you claim

Eguisi is an edo soup no need for debate ...
I dont even need to bring historical records

It is called melon here in Benin from the plant
The Benin name us ogi"

Eguisi is a term Nigerians calls it ,

Egusi (melon soup) its not just a food the benins eat , it is a religious delicacy in the ancirnt times eating along with pounded yam and they maintained calling it d original name ogi(melon plant) and not egusi ,we already now know yams were brought from asia and was later brought by Portuguese to west africa and in the case of Nigeria it was brought to Benin by the Portuguese traders ,a guy also argued with me on this forum that pounded yam wasnt even Benin ,just to attack my claims


You dont just attack statement by mere clsims you wilk have to bring historical findings when you do ,

The last time i checked the coral beads won today by Nigerian is an edo bead ,because it is called bead or has its different names in different tribe does it change it origin

agadez007:
Egusi is not a bini food

My sister have stayed in Edo state where they call it Melon and never eguisi or whatever you claim

What food is it then ,lol a Nigerian food abi

If you further argue in this i will embarass you on this forum with your myopic thinking dont even try to further argue on this just go and do your research..

Most of you just come on nairaland to attack people statement without evidence

That is our delicacy most nigerians has turned to a general food just the way our local red beeds are now seeing as general beads

Are you guys talking about all yams or one type of yams.

There are sweet yam (idunku), cocoyam that grows even without planting and variety of other yams I am sure others can educate us on.

googi:
Are you guys talking about all yams or one type of yams.

There are sweet yam (idunku), cocoyam that grows even without planting and variety of other yams I am sure others can educate us on.

All this varietes of yams are foreign even if they propagate without planting them or they grow as weed the fact remains they are foreign,
But i would choose" to believe cocoyam are naturally African

Africans diet before the arrival of the Europeans most especially Portuguese was mostly vegetables i wonder what they used in eating the vegetables before the arrival of cassava and yams

If you get to check our virgin forest you will get to agree with this article that all this food crops were foreigns to africa our natural forest comprises of tall flanked trees with zero food crops ,most of this food crops we eat today in Nigeria got into nigeria through the Portuguese trading with the benin people,the words of this food crops use to take the Portuguese names in the old benin lexicon ,even the brnin traditional livestock's they use for thier traditional worship were all brought by the Portuguese ,plants like cassava,yams,melon plant (egusi) ,watermelon and so mamy found it's way into africa through the help of the Portuguese

HallaDaTruth:
We already had yams, pepper, vegetables, plantains and several palm trees species , cocoa etc in Eastern and Southern Nigeria. The North was known for her groundnuts, onions etc. That story is not fully true. Infact some of the plants in Asia and Europe were taken from Africa

Were is your prove this are mere claims your natural forest dont contain all this food you mentioned , even the other part of africa dont have all this food you mentioned because little or no trade was done with them by Europeans

gregyboy:



Were is your prove this are mere claims your natural forest dont contain all this food you mentioned , even the other part of africa dont have all this food you mentioned because little or no trade was done with them by Europeans

Really, so what you read in a book influenced by Europeans is right ?. Are you not aware that there are certain trees that only grows in Africa for example the udara / agbalumo tree and others. Please dig deeper. If some trees only grow in Africa, how da hell did the so called europeans introduce it to us. That was how they told us that mungo Park discovered a river full of people living in that area, they also told us that Christopher columbus discovered A country full of inhabitants. Throw away the white man's history books, they were not written for black people, they were written to inflate their egos

N:B Do you know that coffee was discovered in Africa ?. What about palm nuts etc Read more.

N:B on a final note, let's go to the Bible. Why did the whole world go to Egypt to buy food during the famine era where Joseph was prime minister. Remember ancient Egyptians and Israelites were Blacks. Ponder upon that.

HallaDaTruth:

Really, so what you read in a book influenced by Europeans is right ?. Are you not aware that there are certain trees that only grows in Africa for example the udara / agbalumo tree and others. Please dig deeper. If some trees only grow in Africa, how da hell did the so called europeans introduce it to us. That was how they told us that mungo Park discovered a river full of people living in that area, they also told us that Christopher columbus discovered A country full of inhabitants. Throw away the white man's history books, they were not written for black people, they were written to inflate their egos

N:B Do you know that coffee was discovered in Africa ?. What about palm nuts etc Read more.

N:B on a final note, let's go to the Bible. Why did the whole world go to Egypt to buy food during the famine era where Joseph was prime minister. Remember ancient Egyptians and Israelites were Blacks. Ponder upon that.

Sir no one debated on that ,some crops are peculiar to africans , but most food crops are foreign to west africa and nigeria

There is no need to be Afrocentric about all this

And yea mungo park discovered river niger and benue he died in the cause of discovering in it ,he died out of malaria he wrote in details were the river had began and were it ended your fathers only discovered the part they fletched water from


I know you would come back and call my a whiteman slave but the truth remains the truth

gregyboy:


Sir no one debated on that ,some crops are peculiar to africans , but most food crops are foreign to west africa and nigeria

There is no need to be Afrocentric about all this

And yea mungo park discovered river niger and benue he died in the cause of discovering in it ,he died out of malaria he wrote in details were the river had began and were it ended your fathers only discovered the part they fletched water from


I know you would come back and call my a whiteman slave but the truth remains the truth

Mr man THINK, did Africans not eat before these colonisers came ?. Africa existed before the colonial era for God sake. Who told you our fore fathers did not discover the beginning and end of Niger. Why was African history destroyed. Why was the greatest library to ever exist (The Library of Alexandria) burnt down by the Europeans. If you have chosen to believe a lie and claim its the truth. I have decided to seek the real truth. That's why i have vowed that my children will never learn that so called slave trade history because it damages something on the inside of Black people. Emancipate your mentality brother. Did Malaysia not come to Nigeria to take palm oil seeds. In future they might claim that it originated in Asia and future Africans like you will believe it. The biggest problem of Africa is that we don't keep records that's why some little white dude somewhere will come up with writeups like the one you posted. The second biggest problem with Africa is that there are people like you who chose to believe anything because it was written by a little white man. Wake up Brother.

Depends on what you mean by original.

How far back are you looking? Also, would you consider a food original if it's been in Africa for a long time regardless of its origin, eg bananas/plantain.

HallaDaTruth:


Mr man THINK, did Africans not eat before these colonisers came ?. Africa existed before the colonial era for God sake. Who told you our fore fathers did not discover the beginning and end of Niger. Why was African history destroyed. Why was the greatest library to ever exist (The Library of Alexandria) burnt down by the Europeans. If you have chosen to believe a lie and claim its the truth. I have decided to seek the real truth. That's why i have vowed that my children will never learn that so called slave trade history because it damages something on the inside of Black people. Emancipate your mentality brother. Did Malaysia not come to Nigeria to take palm oil seeds. In future they might claim that it originated in Asia and future Africans like you will believe it. The biggest problem of Africa is that we don't keep records that's why some little white dude somewhere will come up with writeups like the one you posted. The second biggest problem with Africa is that there are people like you who chose to believe anything because it was written by a little white man. Wake up Brother.

My friend you're an afrocebtrist, youre simply finding hope or pride from were there is non,africans had not yet made history for themselves , the Egyptian history you claims on were built on the power of rome and europeans from rome so i wont regard or even take pride in it

You on the other hand is an afrocentrist fellow ,i am a humanist and i care on what is better for the world and not necessarily africa ,

Yea,Africans didnt keep written records who are we to blame the white and to what use would the white claim any glory from africans on food crops ,

You better acceot your dearest afrucans had failed in the past and its time for we to built it instead of spreading Afrocentrism with an empty pride

Am a Benin guy and i can attests that article weren't wrong ,it is easily glaring when you look at the Benin culture

And also your fore fathers didnt discover those rivers , discovery is not just coming outside to fetch water from a river ,its beyond that ,columbus discovered america would you also call it eurocentrism " on americans
My guy think you're not helping africans with such kind of emoty pride of yours

Rome was destroyed several times by gauls , and babarians and thier libaries were destroyed they lost so many works but did they as a result give excuse over it,

My guy think


If you want to prove this article wrong then bring a vital prove if not go home and think of how to help Africans

Shea is another African crop

From my interest and curiosity on origin of some of the plants we cultivate as food, I found out most of them originated from Asia.

E.g. cocoyam or taro in Chinese. It even reached America before us.
Corn, yam, groundnut, our type of melon etc name them.

The only different is method of cooking.
I actually prefer theirs.

Lots of veggie infusion.

gregyboy:



My friend you're an afrocebtrist, youre simply finding hope or pride from were there is non,africans had not yet made history for themselves , the Egyptian history you claims on were built on the power of rome and europeans from rome so i wont regard or even take pride in it

You on the other hand is an afrocentrist fellow ,i am a humanist and i care on what is better for the world and not necessarily africa ,

Yea,Africans didnt keep written records who are we to blame the white and to what use would the white claim any glory from africans on food crops ,

You better acceot your dearest afrucans had failed in the past and its time for we to built it instead of spreading Afrocentrism with an empty pride

Am a Benin guy and i can attests that article weren't wrong ,it is easily glaring when you look at the Benin culture

And also your fore fathers didnt discover those rivers , discovery is not just coming outside to fetch water from a river ,its beyond that ,columbus discovered america would you also call it eurocentrism " on americans
My guy think you're not helping africans with such kind of emoty pride of yours

Rome was destroyed several times by gauls , and babarians and thier libaries were destroyed they lost so many works but did they as a result give excuse over it,

My guy think


If you want to prove this article wrong then bring a vital prove if not go home and think of how to help Africans

As a bini guy you have disappointed me beyond measure. Your culture is one of the richest in the universe yet you speak like this. You dare tell me that one of the greatest empire which is Egyptian empire and benin empire was built on the power of Romans ?. If you talk this thing for home before your traditional rulers na you know wetin you go take your eye see. Don't you know that most of the greatest empires were in Africa before the rise of Rome. Cartage empire was in North Africa too. Have you heard of negroland empire where the word negros comes from. Have you even read of the great things done by the semites aka the real children of Israel who migrated to West Africa when they ran from roman persecution before the slave trade era ? And that is what you call empty pride ? You no be real bini guy. I wan make you come home come make that statement before council of chiefs, na dat time you go know say chicken and Eagle no be mate. So for your mind this article you posted has helped Africans ehn. I no sure say you dey bini dey type this rubbish

sassysure:
From my interest and curiosity on origin of some of the plants we cultivate as food, I found out most of them originated from Asia.

E.g. cocoyam or taro in Chinese. It even reached America before us.
Corn, yam, groundnut, our type of melon etc name them.

The only different is method of cooking.
I actually prefer theirs.

Lots of veggie infusion.

I'm suspecting perhaps the population of Africa wasn't as much in olden times, hence the food crops might not have been able to sustain the eventual increase in numbers.

So it's possible people had to bring crops from other climes that were more beneficial and easier to cultivate and could feed the growing numbers of people, including immigrants.

Just a theory though. It would also mean most African (Nigerian) populations might not be indigenous to Africa, like they arrived at some point in time.

tpiar:



I'm suspecting perhaps the population of Africa wasn't as much in olden times, hence the food crops might not have been able to sustain the eventual increase in numbers.

So it's possible people had to bring crops from other climes that were more beneficial and easier to cultivate and could feed the growing numbers of people, including immigrants.

Just a theory though. It would also mean most African (Nigerian) populations might not be indigenous to Africa, like they arrived at some point in time.

If you a look out our natural vegetation you will see its made of tree crops and grasses that perhaps not edible for eating
Across the continent the Portuguese had traded food crops around all the world,
Little wonder the asia population could increase because of abundant of food crops ,

HallaDaTruth:
As a bini guy you have disappointed me beyond measure. Your culture is one of the richest in the universe yet you speak like this. You dare tell me that one of the greatest empire which is Egyptian empire and benin empire was built on the power of Romans ?. If you talk this thing for home before your traditional rulers na you know wetin you go take your eye see. Don't you know that most of the greatest empires were in Africa before the rise of Rome. Cartage empire was in North Africa too. Have you heard of negroland empire where the word negros comes from. Have you even read of the great things done by the semites aka the real children of Israel who migrated to West Africa when they ran from roman persecution before the slave trade era ? And that is what you call empty pride ? You no be real bini guy. I wan make you come home come make that statement before council of chiefs, na dat time you go know say chicken and Eagle no be mate. So for your mind this article you posted has helped Africans ehn. I no sure say you dey bibi dey type this rubbish

Calm down we are not here to fight we are here to make an understanding and further our research

I was inquisitive to know why our natural vegetation didn't naturally grow our food crops ,with the knowledge that casava was foreign ,i began making research online till i found the article ,i would have disputed the articles ,if i was not an edo person were the Portuguese made 60 impact in our culture they were so many fact they mentioned that can still be found in edo today,

I will ask you to read the articles and pay a close looks at your environment and other environment around you ,you will find the articles weren't completely wrong

gregyboy:




I was inquisitive to know why our natural vegetation didn't naturally grow our food crops ,with the knowledge that casava was foreign

I think when people migrated, they brought their food crops with them.

tpiar:



I'm suspecting perhaps the population of Africa wasn't as much in olden times, hence the food crops might not have been able to sustain the eventual increase in numbers.

So it's possible people had to bring crops from other climes that were more beneficial and easier to cultivate and could feed the growing numbers of people, including immigrants.

Just a theory though. It would also mean most African (Nigerian) populations might not be indigenous to Africa, like they arrived at some point in time.

The problem should be documentation from what I can get from history.
U see some things that have been existing for long in sub Saharan Africa especially being named by European explorers or introduced to us by them.
Our food crops( we should have some cos all countries must have something originally from them)we're taken away by them and re- introduced to us.

Even now,we still don't have proper documentation.

Schools don't teach our history rather, it's more of the history of the outside world.
Everybody is busy pursuing national cake

sassysure:


The problem should be documentation from what I can get from history.
U see some things that have been existing for long in sub Saharan Africa especially being named by European explorers or introduced to us by them.
Our food crops( we should have some cos all countries must have something originally from them)we're taken away by them and re- introduced to us.

Even now,we still don't have proper documentation.

Schools don't teach our history rather, it's more of the history of the outside world.
Everybody is busy pursuing national cake

The bolded is possible I guess.

gregyboy:



Calm down we are not here to fight we are here to make an understanding and further our research

I was inquisitive to know why our natural vegetation didn't naturally grow our food crops ,with the knowledge that casava was foreign ,i began making research online till i found the article ,i would have disputed the articles ,if i was not an edo person were the Portuguese made 60 impact in our culture they were so many fact they mentioned that can still be found in edo today,

I will ask you to read the articles and pay a close looks at your environment and other environment around you ,you will find the articles weren't completely wrong

No problem bro. But know that we have a rich culture which was destroyed by these colonisers. Which also include food and crops and science. They were lots of hidden subliminal messages in the movie black panther. God bless.

Well, I've named about two food crops that are indigenous to Africa.

One is plantain

The other is shea.

I think many of the native African crops are possibly now used for commercial purposes rather than as edible food items eg shea.

Native gourd is another traditionally African crop.

My point of reference is west Africa btw, specifically Nigeria because I might not be too familiar with foods of other countries.