An Indigenous West African Food Culture

In light of the continued spike in food prices we take a look at Ifeyinwa Fransesca Smith's 1995 paper on the need for an Indigenous West African Food Culture. She made a strong case for educating the public on the benefits of under-recognized foods then,a point which remains relevant today:

There is a dire need for well planned and executed popularization campaigns of foods produced both within countries and the subregion. The many food technology institutes and food industries have roles to play in ensuring easy availability of our local foods in nutritionally adequate and culturally acceptable forms. Their roles must not end with the production of such foods, there is need for continuous research aimed at evolving better, versatile and more acceptable products. These new products should in turn be subjected to intense recipe development, be aggressively popularized through their use in the preparation of locally acceptable and nutritionally adequate meals. Finally, there is a need for continued research into newer and better ways of utilizing the partly processed foods and popularizing new recipes evolved.