SUNDAY RITUAL

Why is it a ritual for most households in Nigeria to have bread and tea for breakfast and on Sunday
mornings? The bread goes with either tea or some sort of beverage,eggs with or without tomatoes,
pepper, onions and a pinch of salt and seasoning to taste. Some others have it with baked beans or
sausages. This happens in many major hotels in Nigeria. And,Then rice is either for lunch or dinner.

'Haba! Is it every time we should have bread for breakfast? Why don't we have something else that
is light and nutritious for a change?' These were the words I told my flatmate. He is quite a good
cook and his specialty is Italian cuisine. Mention any pasta or sauce and he knows his way around it.
If pasta were fattening, I would have been a drum by now. 'Would you have pancakes instead?', He
asked. At the sound of pancakes, I was so excited.The sound of it reminded me of one of the times
he made pancakes in the past with some syrup to go with it.' Yes oh!'. It felt like Christmas day. 'But
you have to help me out in the kitchen',he said.

Different people, I guess, have their different ways of making pancakes and I really needed to learn
a few tricks. As he poured some clean white flour into a bowl, I asked if we needed to measure it.
'When you don’t have a measuring cup in your house, what do you do?' Paolo, asked me playfully.
Next,he added some sugar to the flour and then,a teaspoon of baking powde. The four whisked
eggs were added to the sweet smelling mixture. As he stirred the mixture,he sprinkled some nutmeg
and pinch of salt to taste. It got all thick and then,he added warm fresh milk to lighten it up. In case
you don’t have liquid milk, you can use powdered ones. The frying pan was heating up under th
fire with some vegetable oil. Paolo used a deep spoon to pour the mixture into the frying pan, that
were the mixture took its shape in the process of frying.The number of pancakes depended on the
number of scoop.

It looked lovely and I couldn’t wait to snack upon a piece or two,At least something different from
the regular bread and whatever.There are actually different ways of making pancakes.This is
just an archytypal method.You can add ingrdients like sardines or corned-beef.You can also be
adventourous enough to use runner beans or chopped carrots and add on top while frying. I had my
lovely breakfast with a warm cup of milk. Tell me,if that wasn't balance diet?It okay to break away
from preceived convention especially with the menu and preparation of meals and try to be creative
with our cooking and menus.

New Diet called rest of mind.

'Ijeoma, listen to me when I tell you stuff. You really don’t know much so you sit back, relax and
learn'. These were the words I told her. 'Even if I didn’t go to the university, Ola, your definition
is wrong'. I wondered what she was talking about. Could she be correct? Am I actually falling
into a trap? Oh my, she got me thinking for real. I picked up my blackberry and when straight to
the installed dictionary to look up the definition of the phrase 'Balanced Diet'. 'Balanced diet is a
diet, consisting of the proper quantities and proportions of foods needed to maintain health or
growth.These consist of carbohydrate, protein, fats and oil, water, vitamins and minerals'. 'Yes,
Ijeoma, I was so right. I told you its complete'. 'What about rest of mind?', She asked. What has
rest of mind got to do with balanced diet? 'Ola, ever since I've known you,I have observed your
dire interest in matters that concern food.You know good food and drinks when you see them and
you don't hesitate to feast upon them.I have been praying for you to respond to this propensity by
gaining some weight but you have ever remained skinny. 'Point of correction, I’m slim and thanks for the compliment.' I said with a wry of smile.

Throughout the night, Ijeoma’s words kept echoing in my head. I love food relentlessly perhaps
because it is necessary for our survival. Even the cave man in premodial times did a lot to obtain
food for himself including the act of immitation and disguise to hunt down game.Our forefathers
actually lived longer lives and this is contrary to the present statusquo. But what would be the
cause?Personally,I have come to observe that civilization has done us more harm than good. All we do is work, work, work and less time for relaxation. People who go on vacations spend more time sightseeing, shopping,visiting families and friends and have no time to rest their busy bodies. Certain groups of individuals including ballerinas, models, fashionistas, some celebrities, anorexic girls among others just don’t seem to like food at all. How can I see a slice of creamy,coconut topping,cookie cake made by Cookie Jar and say no? All in the bid to keep fit and healthy,they disassociate themselves from one of the best things of life : Food. But there are definately some healthy ways one can have his three square meals a day without the fear of getting out of shape or something.On the other hand,there abound another set of individuals in opposition to the aforementioned categories. They include the likes of me, chefs, burnouts, connoisseurs, foodies, some growing children among others.These people are interested in exploring the world of food without holdingback.They love,know good food and are not afraid of experimenting bizzare or culturally alienated dishes.


Food is very much part of our culture and it is such an inestimable one that we hardly get through
a whole day without encountering it. Breakfast is also very important meal for everyone.It will aid
in the proper functioning of the brain and the general physiology. If we force growing kids to have
breakfast, we should also learn to have some too..For those who think food is the enemy,its ok to
watch ones weigh but people should be careful not to take it over the top and constitute problems

for themselves.You can always eat light but balanced meals and perhaps a little work out. Please always have time to REST. ITS VERY IMPORTANT.