Paper 1 Practice Exam

Write a guided analysis on the following text:

The following text is an excerpt from an article on the website Serious Eats about
cooking Nigerian food.

Nigerian Food 101: Recipes to Get You

Started
An introduction to cooking Nigerian food at home.

by Ozoz Sokoh Published Mar. 31, 2023

I grew up in Warri, on the southern coast of Nigeria, eating, drinking, and enjoying Nigerian
food. While I loved our food, I hardly thought of it as worthy of celebration, and boy, did I take it
for granted until it was nowhere to be found. It wasn’t until the late 1990s, when I was in my
twenties at university in England, that I understood food as more than eating―not just as a
means to fill my belly, but as a way to soothe my soul, connect with home, and experience a
sense of belonging.

By the time I moved back home to Warri after graduation, my appreciation for Nigerian food had
grown. And still, I had no idea that edible traces of Nigerian cuisine existed across the Black
Atlantic, throughout the Caribbean islands and Latin America, as a result of the transatlantic
slave trade.
I moved to The Netherlands for work as an exploration geologist in 2007. A few years later, in
2009, my Brazilian supervisor, Santiago, shared a story about Afro-Brazilian acarajé—a fritter
that is a direct descendant of the Nigerian bean fritter known as akara. That singular
conversation opened up a world of food history, heritage, legacy, and research that continues to
fascinate me. It’s motivated me to unravel, unearth, and document all the ways we, as human
beings, are similar—not just people of African descent, but also other cultures and cuisines
where there are connections, be they geographical or based upon shared histories (e.g. Nigeria
and India through British colonialism).

With that discovery, I had numerous conversations about connections through food. These
conversations also had me looking inward―at home, to our cuisine―trying to understand who
we, as Nigerians, are and how we eat. Broadly speaking, most of the foods we eat on a daily
basis are nationally recognized dishes with regional variations. There are recipes and
ingredients with clear origins from one part of the country that are part of the daily lives of
Nigerians all over the country, so national seems only fitting to describe them.

Different regions have versions of the same dish. For instance, egusi soup (also known as
agushi, egushi, egunsi) is beloved across the country. The differences in regional versions
include how the egusi seeds are prepared: raw or toasted, dry-milled or wet-ground, light and
creamy or thick with curd. The greens, herbs, and seasonings used are also unique to specific
localities, but even with these different ways of preparing the soup, it's always instantly
recognizable with its signature focus on the creamy, nutty flavor of the melon seed. You’ll find
this true for many dishes across Nigeria—they take slightly different shape in each place while
retaining their essential character.
How a Nigerian Meal Is Structured

Nigerian food culture doesn’t feature multiple courses. The main dish is usually the star of the
show, and depending on the time of day, could be anything from akara or moin moin to rice,
beans, and cooked vegetables with stew. A lunchtime meal at home might look like rice
and stew with dodo and efo, or some combination; or it might be a soup with nuts, seeds, and
vegetables served with a swallow, like eba or lafun, along with zobo or other drinks. At a party,
you might begin with a plate of small chops like puff puff, then enjoy some jollof or fried rice with
moin moin and dodo.

Enjoy the range our palates embrace—sweet, salty, smoky, umami, spicy, and everything
in between.

For ease, I’ve grouped the recipes here into fritters and fried doughs; swallows; soups, stews,
and sauces; rice; cooked vegetables; snacks; and drinks. They capture the framework of our
cuisine, and the majority of the 200-plus million people in Nigeria would recognize most of them
in one form or another. Fresh fruit and vegetables, in abundance all year round, are also the go-
to for people wanting a sweet bite.

I must say though, these recipes are just a handful of the hundreds of Nigerian dishes that exist
and are living and thriving across the country. Still, they give you some insights into what
Nigerians eat; when, where, and how; from north to south and east to west. Enjoy the range our
palates embrace – sweet salty, smoky, umami, spicy, and everything in between.

Guiding question: Discuss how different features are used in this web article to create an
impression of Nigerian culture.

Context: https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-get-started-cooking-nigerian-food-7373677