By Wole Balogun
S.A media to VC
Excited students of the Department of Linguistics and Languages, Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE), have expressed appreciation to the Ivory Tower for exposing them to making meals native to Yoruba culture.
The students recently had a practical session as part of the requirements of one of their courses, Yoruba Language and Culture ii (YOR 206), and were taught how to make several local meals in Yoruba land. They confessed that it was both fun and rewarding to have been taken through the practical session.
According to the course lecturer, Dr. Adejoke Oluwaseyi-Paul, YOR 206
exposes the students to the origin and history of Yoruba as a race and the culture of the race, she said: “The course contents include Yoruba oral poetry, human origin from the perspective of Darwin’s evolution theory, creation and migration story of the race and its language based on views by authorities such as Bamgbose and more importantly, the Yoruba culture which involves behavioral patterns, norms and attitudes in the society known as ìwà ọmọlúàbí.”
Speaking further on the inspiration behind teaching the students how to cook some of Yoruba cuisine, Dr. Paul disclosed: “We realized that these students do not know anything about how to cook the local foods in Yoruba land and we deem it fit to teach them. We do not want them to get bored in learning all these in theory alone. We decided to make learning fun by making it practical. The local meals we have prepared in this practical session include iyán and ẹ̀fó̩ rírò, àmàlà gbẹ̀gìrì (soup made with beans) and ewédú, mó̩ínó̩in among others. We have even gone as far as tapping undiluted palm wine with the help of a local palm wine tapper and it tastes excellent.
“The students’ population is over 100 and they have shown very good attitude in doing this. They have been eager to learn and very supportive in the process,” she observed.
Some of the students spoke to the University media team on behalf of the class and revealed that it was highly rewarding to have been taken through the practical session. Abisola Abdulrahman, said: “This course is about the culture of Yoruba race, its language and cuisine and others. We have leant about how to cook different local foods in Yoruba land and now we can make iyan, Amala, Ofada rice and others and I have also known much about the culture and l can appreciate the culture better . I have also leant about the advantages of the Yoruba culture. “
Aliyu Amina is one of the young ladies who participated actively in the cooking session. She confessed that learning to make local meals on Yoruba has been fun-filled, rewarding and educative. She added that having been hitherto used to English cuisine such as hamburgers, ice creams and fried rice, it was quite exciting to be taken through practical sessions on making some Yoruba meals. Her words: “The course exposes us to those things we don’t know about the Yoruba culture and particularly the local Yoruba foods.
“We are used to eating fried rice and burgers but now we know the local meals in Yoruba. I now know how to pound yam not the kind of pounded yam that we use machine to make but the one we pound with our hands. I can also cook Asaro (yam porridge), which we eat in Yoruba with vegetable called Efo riro in Yoruba and l can make ofada rice and its sauce among other local food in Yoruba land.
