If you ask any old lady in the village, “What vegetables did you eat as a child?” She won’t talk about potatoes or carrots, broccoli or cauliflower; she’ll talk about vegetables like plantain, cooking banana. Available all year round, she knows how to cook it in different ways and how to satisfy her children’s hunger. Her knowledge is drawn from her cultural identity.

This generation, with its incessant consumption of potatoes, has forgotten the value of plantain and consequently is losing its cultural identity. Ask your grandparents about local food and rediscover cultural identity.

Leave a Reply