Yoruba: Bigger Than Africa: Akara and Akamu As Case Studies By Reno Omokri

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One of the most popular breakfast foods in Nigeria are Akara and Akamu. Akara is a fried bean cake that tastes so good. It is usually served with a pap porridge made of fermented corn starch, which is the Akamu. It is a staple in almost every home in the Southwest of Nigeria.

I had it almost daily as a child, my mother being partly Ijebu. Not only is it delicious, but it is also very nutritious and is credited with making children grow tall and strong.

And I am so proud of this delicacy that I learnt how to cook both from my mum and regularly recreated them as a student in England, to the delight of my classmates from all over the world. I cannot tell you how many hearts and other body parts it opened for me, as I am now a child of God.

But let’s just say it made me popular at school. Very popular.

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Indians loved it. Chinese desired it. Europeans found an exotic delicacy in it, but they begged me to reduce the Cameroon pepper I used to spice it up.

Now, as you may know, I am an avid traveller. I could travel to as many as forty countries in a year. That is how much I love travelling.

So, imagine my pleasant surprise when I visited Brazil to find them eating, wait for it…Akara and Akamu!

In fact, it is more popular there than here. It is a street food that commands long queues of people waiting to have their delicacy. Black, White, Asian, and everybody in Brazil eat it.

There was a slight problem, though.

They called their own Akara, Acarajé. I was curious, so I tasted it. And boy, was it delicious. This was some next-level Akara! If you eat Acarajé in Brazil, especially in Bahia and Salvador, and you do not have extraordinary powers of self-control and strong will, you are either coming home with a Brazilian wife, or you are not returning, period!

Those guys have perfected the art of Akara. They put all manner of spices in it and then add crustaceans to it, including crabmeat, lobster, and prawns, you name it.

Then, their own Akamu is called mingau de maizena. I was told it was once called Acamu, and it is still so-called in some places.

And you guys know how curious I am, so I started investigating.

The Afro-Brasileiros, sometimes known here as Preto, admit that their Acarajé is from Nigeria. The Nagos, who are Brazilians of Lukumi (Yoruba) origin, say that their ancestors brought this food from Nigeria as enslaved people.

They still speak Yoruba and practice Ifa Traditional Religion, which they have fused with Catholicism to form a new religion called Candomblé.

They explained that Acarajé simply means ‘I count’ (Aka or Aca), ‘I buy’ (ra), and ‘I eat’ (je), hence the name Acarajé!

Of course, it made sense! But why don’t we add the je to our own Akara in Nigeria? I guess that the Lukumi (Yoruba) in Nigeria just shortened it the way they also shortened Omo-ti-Olu Iwa-bi to Omoluabi and Olofin-Orun (Lord of the Heavens) to Olorun.

Likewise, Acamu, also known here as mingau de maizena, simply means ‘I count’ (Aka or Aca) and ‘I drink’ (Mu).

This is similar to how I had to go to Cuba, to discover that Èṣù, or Echú as they pronounce it, is actually not satan. Cuban and Brazilian Lukumi people (pronounced Lukumi in Cuba and Brazil, with the o silent) left Nigeria before Ajayi Crowther corrupted that word.

When Ajayi Crowther was translating the Bible into Yoruba, he could not find a suitable word for satan. Rather than just leave it as satan, he took one of the deities in Ifa, Èṣù and turned him into satan.

Even the word Èṣù is not complete. In Cuba, the full name is Èṣù-Ẹlẹ́gbára, sometimes shortened to Ẹlẹ́gbá, or Echú Eleguá, as they call it. In Brazil, he is called Exu.

It was in Cuba that I was educated that the place in Lagos called Ojuelegba, is actually Ojubo Ẹlẹ́gbá, meaning altar of Ẹlẹ́gbá, or more accurately, a portal from which the deity enters and exits the spiritual realm to enter the physical realm.