Yoruba Food

Extract

The subsistence economy of the Yoruba of West Africa, like that of their neighbours, on the Guinea Coast, is based on sedentary hoe agriculture. Hunting, fishing, animal husbandry, and the gathering of wild foods are practised, but the basis of the Yoruba diet consists of starchy tubers, grains, and fruits grown on their farms, supplemented by vegetable oils, wild and cultivated fruits and vegetables, and meat and fish. The commercial economy of the Yoruba is based on cocoa (koko, from English) Theobroma cacao, originally native to Central America, which has become the principal cash crop of the Yoruba during the present century. Today Nigeria's major export, cocoa, is produced almost entirely by the Yoruba. More than 99 per cent, of the total tonnage of Nigerian cocoa graded in 1940-1 was produced in Yoruba territory, only 741 out of 97,862 tons coming from Benin and Warri provinces. First exported in the last decade of the nineteenth century, cocoa has increased in importance until in 1947 it ranked first among Nigeria's exports in terms of value. It is the principal cash crop in Ǫyǫ, Ondo, Ijębu-Ode and Abęokuta provinces and part of the Colony, all of which are inhabited by the Yoruba.

Résumé

L'ALIMENTATION DES YORUBA

Cet article constitue la première partie d'une étude de la nourriture des peuples Yoruba; la deuxième partie, qui paraîtra dans un numéro ultérieur de ce journal, traite des techniques culinaires et des recettes de cuisine. Dans le présent article, l'auteur décrit les divers aliments — céréales, fruits, légumes, viandes — d'emploi courant, en énumérant les différentes variétés de chaque sorte, leur habitat, les méthodes de production et les diverses façons dont ils sont employés. L'auteur fournit quelques détails concernant les genres d'hospitalité imposés aux chefs de famille, ainsi que des évaluations approximatives des dépenses sur la nourriture; il donne également des notes sur des aliments introduits de l'extérieur du territoire.