IF there were no territorial markets, many food ingredients and related recipes would have disappeared.
Besides keeping rural and urban areas connected through food, African territorial markets are at the forefront of protecting food cultures.
When Africans now living in the city want to remember what they used to eat growing up in rural areas, they just visit the nearest territorial market. The same way knowledge disappears if not used is the same way some food cuisines become extinct when raw materials are missing for too long. Territorial markets provide most ingredients.
Every mother is a chef
While modern food systems and the hospitality industry present professional chefs as the main influencers of consumption patterns, African mothers are the custodians of local food culture and cuisine through selecting the right ingredients from territorial markets for home cooking.
By providing diverse food ingredients in line with particular seasons, territorial markets are quietly advancing home cooking. In so doing, territorial markets are protecting food cultures against infiltration by a fast-food culture.
Keep Reading
- Understanding colonialism in Zimbabwe
- Travelling & touring: Matobo Hills conquers world tourism
- Independence: Why has Zim regressed?
- Another Great Zimbabwe monument in Marondera
Urban girls and young mothers who want to learn about how certain yams are prepared the traditional way are harvesting that practical wisdom from elders who have been working in territorial markets for decades. Territorial markets are preventing indigenous food cultures from being erased.
The absence of research and development about indigenous food does not mean such food practices do not exist. Why is there more data about Western food than local food?
Indigenous food is facing discrimination from policy support, as seen by the abundance of data and studies on Western that indigenous food. The absence of data is another form of attack on indigenous food, cultures and identities, which territorial markets are correcting.
Much of the investment is going to modern irrigation technologies and advances in imported food systems at the expense of indigenous fruits. A typical example is in the horticultural sector, where in most African countries, indigenous fruits are not receiving the same support as is given to citrus and other Western fruits. Territorial markets are challenging this negative trend by providing space for the trading of indigenous fruits, some of which are now finding their way into beverages. Cabbage, carrots and other imported vegetable hybrids are invading several rural communities but territorial markets are providing space for indigenous vegetables to compete for the same consumers with imported hybrids. The fact that policymakers promote broiler chickens and layers has not stopped territorial markets from marketing indigenous poultry, which many urban consumers are beginning to prefer for health and wellness reasons. Territorial markets ensure consumers who want indigenous food get it whenever they want it, so that they do not go back to exotic food.
Remembering forgotten indigenous ingredients through territorial markets
African grandmothers born in rural communities but spent much of their lives in cities are turning to territorial markets to rediscover ingredients once passed down by their mothers and grandmothers. Across the continent, pride in returning to the culinary past is rising as Africans reconnect with their roots through indigenous foods.
Seeing indigenous fruits, vegetables and herbs in territorial markets today feels like rediscovering a long-lost member of the family. Protecting indigenous food has become an act of preserving culture and identity — much like guarding a sacred totem.
Just as societies protect natural wonders and heritage sites, equal attention should be given to safeguarding the traditional foods that shaped the lives of the communities who once lived around them.
For example, the communities that built Great Zimbabwe sustained themselves through their own food systems — traditions that deserve to be researched, documented and preserved.
Food as part of the local language
Territorial markets are showing that food is more than carbohydrates, proteins, fats and sugars.
Food is a language and culture through which people communicate from generation to generation.
That is why food should be protected the same way languages are protected. Cameroon has 265 local languages and that means it has more than 265 food systems and cuisines, most of which are found in communities and urban territorial markets. The population of Cameroon is approximately 50 million, who consume several food groups. Many meals are around cassava and cassava leaves; Tchu (leaf); Ndole (leaf); okra, and many others. Another famous meal is called Couscous gombo, made up of fufu or cassava with okra soup and fish. The okok vegetable is given different names according to region or tribe. In the central region, it is called okok by the Ewondo, Beti and Bassa people and their respective languages. In the eastern region, it is called kok kok, while in the north west and South-west, it is called eru by the Bafut, Mankon and the Bayangui. In the Littoral or Douala region, it is called ekoke. Yaounde, the capital city, has more than 10 big territorial markets, including Nsam, Ekounou, and Mokolot, where indigenous food culture is promoted and preserved.
Handing down food cultures to future generations
Many African urban mothers want to see their children move from fast foods to indigenous food, but the main challenge is that some of the ingredients are only available during a particular season.
Now that many countries control all their natural resources, such as land, what prevents them from supporting the production of indigenous food so that ingredients are available every time?
The same amount of money going towards promoting tobacco, Irish potatoes and other exotic foods should be directed to preserving indigenous food.
There is no doubt that food helps people to maintain a strong sense of cultural identity and cohesion.
It allows communities to appreciate themselves everyday and reaffirm their connections to each other and to territorial markets.
The most important dialogues in African territorial markets are about food sources, varieties, recipes and diverse flavours. A culture of documentation will ensure most of these critical conversations are available to the young generation and future generations so that they build careers around local food.