if I could invent a new holiday what will it be?
If only there were holidays for every activity we encounter as humans maybe our cultures and traditions would be preserved better, because somehow traditions are going into extinction especially in Nigeria as most kids cannot speak their local languages or perform certain traditional rites like greeting, cooking local dishes, dressing and so on. It has become so bad that "greeting" which is one of the basic culture of Nigerians is one that has been taken with levity in yoruba culture, women are supposed to kneel and greet their elders and the men would prostrate, but these days greeting is based "I know you".
Preservation of culture is a big deal for me, hence if I had the opportunity to create a new holiday it would be one that has to do with the celebration of local dishes in our country, where people would come together with varieties of meals and we would all have a taste of different cuisines. This holiday's major purpose would be To communally celebrate the different types of food globally, this medium would also help to promote cultural exchange by means of bringing communities together through food. People can share their opinions and try out different cuisines of several locality.
One time we had a church harvest themed "cultural harvest", the planning community organized it so well that the different tribes represented such as yoruba, igbo, hausa, idoma, Edo and so on, prepared dishes for sale that other tribes can buy and have a taste. That day was my first time tasting edikakong soup and since then it has been a favorite of mine. The soup is filled with vegetables and natural spices that makes it healthy and filled with nutrients necessary to enhance body growth. Other dishes were egusi soup, amala and ewexu with gbegiri, ofe nsala, nkwobi, black soup, banga soup and so on.
My belief is that, this can be an interesting event is it is planned out properly, it doesn't have to be a one day or time thing. As a cultural event we can have cooking demonstrations from various tribes which would also involve tastings, giving people the opportunity to try out new dishes and give opinions about them. Organization of workshops and discussions can arise on the issues concerning cultural significance of different cuisines.
This would go a long way to unite the people and bring about oneness. Food has a way of making people forget their worries. This is one reason I admire ibo soups because it is alce laced with vegetables especially bitter leaf that guarantees good nutrients in the body. So one way or the other, diversity of foods has one thing to offer to our body system, if we relegate ourselves to just our tribal food, it would get boring at some point and you would crave for new dishes.
This is a part of my entry for the #novemberinleo prompt as organized by the @leogrowth team with great initiative that members of Hive you can participate in this prompt and tackle them as you deem fit. In collaboration with the @hivenaija community.
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