SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This summer, we’re sampling some spectacular breakfasts with NPR’s international correspondents. Today, NPR’s Emmanuel Akinwotu takes us to Nigeria for a deep-fried bean dish that’s both savory and stirs a national discussion there.
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EMMANUEL AKINWOTU, BYLINE: Having time for breakfast can be a luxury in Lagos, where millions of people are on the move long before dawn to beat the city’s notorious traffic.
UNIDENTIFIED VENDOR #1: (Non-English language spoken).
AKINWOTU: Street vendors weave through the gridlock, selling boiled eggs and sausage rolls or puff-puff, a sweet and addictive spongy snack made from fried dough. But one of the most ubiquitous roadside breakfast staples found all over the city is akara.
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AKINWOTU: It’s a delicious savory snack made from blended beans, chopped onions and spices, then deep-fried in spoonfuls until crisp and golden on the outside while soft and fluffy in the middle.
VIVIAN OZOWAR: You just soak it in water. You squeeze to peel off the skin. When you finish, wash and leave (ph).
AKINWOTU: It’s a process Vivian Ozowar (ph) knows by heart. She and her husband, Jonathan, make a living running a roadside stall in Lagos.
OZOWAR: I add many things because I like people having healthy items into my whole recipe. Sometimes, I put ginger.
AKINWOTU: And there are many ways to enjoy it. Some have it plain, others in a sandwich wrapped with bread or with ogi, a fermented porridge. They’ve been running this stall for the last decade, coming here along this busy commercial street every morning before sunrise.
OZOWAR: So I wake up by about 4, 5, do my cleaning, my bins and my preparation. So by 6, I should be here.
UNIDENTIFIED VENDOR #2: (Non-English language spoken).
AKINWOTU: Akara’s origins are in Nigeria and West Africa, but its trail can be found around the world. In countries like Brazil, where more than 5 million enslaved Africans were taken during the transatlantic slave trade, Africans recreated and preserved the recipes they knew. What is known as akara in Nigeria is acaraje in parts of South America, often split open and filled with shrimp and other Afro-Brazilian flavors. But akara isn’t just part of Nigeria’s history. In recent months, it’s also become a political talking point here.
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REMI TINUBU: We’re trying to give hope. And to start akara business doesn’t take a lot of money.
AKINWOTU: In May, comments by Nigeria’s first lady, Remi Tinubu, sparked widespread outrage. A former senator, she was describing the government’s efforts to tackle rising poverty in Africa’s most populous country. She said the government had, quote, encouraged poorer Nigerians by offering grants to help them start small, informal businesses, such as selling akara on the street.
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VERYDARKMAN: If you like to fry akara, let me hear you say, yeah, yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: Yeah, yeah.
AKINWOTU: The first lady’s comments sparked an instant backlash and a wave of satire and song. Akara has become an unlikely symbol of the cost-of-living crisis.
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VERYDARKMAN: If you want to sell akara, let me hear you say, yeah, yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: Yeah, yeah.
AKINWOTU: While the government sees businesses like these as an opportunity, to Vivian Ozowar, it reflects the lack of it.
OZOWAR: Do you know what it means to be a graduate? See me. See me coming out this morning. See. I don’t sleep.
AKINWOTU: Ozowar qualified as a teacher, but neither she or her husband could find well-paid work.
OZOWAR: He is my life partner. I cannot do it alone.
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AKINWOTU: So her husband fries the akara, and she makes the pap. Like many things in Nigeria, akara tells a bigger story – about how a humble breakfast made from beans, onions and spices can reveal centuries of history and today’s struggle to make ends meet.
Emmanuel Akinwotu, NPR News, Lagos.
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UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL ARTIST: (Singing in non-English language). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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