Palm nut soup or banga is a soup made from palm fruit common in the

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

ian,

Ghanaian The Ghanaian people are a nation originating in the Gold Coast (region), Ghanaian Gold Coast. Ghanaians predominantly inhabit the Republic of Ghana and are the predominant cultural group and residents of Ghana, numbering 34 million people as of ...

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was derived from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jo ...

Democratic Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

and Ivorian communities. The soup is made from a palm cream or palm nut base with stewed marinated meats, smoked dried fish, and aromatics. It is often eaten with starch,

fufu Fufu (or fufuo, foofoo, foufou ) is a pounded meal found in West African cuisine. It is a Twi word that originates from the Akans in Ghana. The word has been expanded to include several variations of the pounded meal found in other African c ...

, omotuo, banku,

fonio Fonio, also sometimes called findi or acha, is the term for two cultivated grasses in the genus '' Digitaria'' that are important crops in parts of West Africa. It is a vital food source in many rural areas, especially in the mountains of Fouta ...

, or rice. The use of the palm fruit in cooking is significant in Ivorian, Cameronian, Nigerian, Ghanaian, Liberian and other West and Central African cuisine.

By region

Cameroon

soup is a palm fruit soup in

Cameroonian cuisine Cameroonian cuisine is one of the most varied in Africa due to Cameroon's location on the crossroads between the north, west, and center of the continent; the diversity in ethnicity with mixture ranging from Bantu peoples, Bantus, Bamileke peo ...

and West African cuisine. It is often served with

kwacoco Kwacoco, sometimes spelled kwa-coco, is a Cameroonian cuisine dish consisting of pureed cocoyam wrapped and steamed in banana leaves. It is consumed by different ethnic groups from Cameroon, specially the Kwe people, for whom the traditional meal u ...

. The soup is Cameroon's version of the West African banga, a palm fruit soup eaten in areas including parts of Nigeria. In Cameroon is made using fresh palm nuts. Outside the area canned nuts can be used.

Nigeria

Eba served with Fresh fish banga soup in a clay pot

is a type of palm fruit soup from Southern (the

Niger Delta The Niger Delta is the delta of the Niger River sitting directly on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean in Nigeria. It is located within nine coastal southern Nigerian states, which include: all six states from the South South geopolitic ...

)

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

, particularly the Urhobo ethnic group. This cuisine is quite different from , a variant found in Igbo culture. The Binis have a soup from palm fruits similar to in ingredients and manner of preparation. The Urhobo people’s palm nut soup is called ame adi. In

, this soup accompanies dishes such as starch (''usi'') for the Urhobo people of

Delta State, Nigeria Delta is a state in the South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria. Named after the Niger Delta—a large part of which is in the state—the state was formed from the former Bendel State, on 27 August 1991. It is bordered on the north by Edo S ...

. The Igbo people have the stew and soup varieties made from palm fruits. Ofe akwu is the stew variety usually eaten with

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

while the palm fruit extract is used especially in Anambra state to prepare oha and onugbu soup accompanied with moulding foods (popularly known as 'swallow'), such as pounded cassava (utara/akpu) and corn/cassava flour (nni oka). The palm fruit is often harvested from locally grown palm fruit trees, after which it is thoroughly washed, boiled and mashed for the extraction of its oil, the main ingredient in the preparation of banga soup. Banga soup is flavored with ,

aidan fruit ''Tetrapleura tetraptera'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae native to Western Africa and Central Africa. The plant is called ''prekese'' (or, more correctly, ''prɛkɛsɛ'' aka soup perfume) in the Akan language of Ghana. I ...

, rohojie, spice leaves called obenetietien (scent or bitter leaves can be substituted), a stick of oburunbebe, finely chopped onion, ground

crayfish Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the infraorder Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. Taxonomically, they are members of the superfamilies Astacoidea and Parastacoidea. They breathe through feather-like gills. Some spe ...

chili pepper Chili peppers, also spelled chile or chilli ( ), are varieties of fruit#Berries, berry-fruit plants from the genus ''Capsicum'', which are members of the nightshade family Solanaceae, cultivated for their pungency. They are used as a spice to ...

Scotch bonnet Scotch bonnet (also known as Bonney peppers, or Caribbean red peppers) is a variety of chili pepper named for its supposed resemblance to a Scottish tam o' shanter bonnet. It is native to the Americas—a cultivar of '' Capsicum chinense'', wh ...

, and salt. The soup is eaten with starch made with cassava and palm oil or rice in southern parts of Nigeria. Banga soup is mostly prepared using fresh

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order (biology), order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Catfish are common name, named for their prominent barbel (anatomy), barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, though not ...

, dried or smoked fish, or meat.

Okra Okra (, ), ''Abelmoschus esculentus'', known in some English-speaking countries as lady's fingers, is a flowering plant in the Malvaceae, mallow family native to East Africa. Cultivated in tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate regions aro ...

may be added. Ame adi, also known as banga soup, is a soup eaten by the Urhobo people of Southern Nigeria. It is made by extracting the liquid of palm kernels. Thereafter, other ingredients like crayfish, meat, fish, pepper and cow tripe are added. It is eaten with eba or usi (starch). (''

Elaeis guineensis ''Elaeis guineensis'' is a species of Arecaceae, palm commonly just called oil palm but also sometimes African oil palm or macaw-fat. The first Western world, Western person to describe it and bring back seeds was the French naturalist Michel Ad ...

'') extract.

Gallery

Palm nut soup with fish.jpg, Palm nut soup with fish Palm nut soup.jpg, Palm nut soup Akan Ghanaian Palm Nut Soup.jpg, Akan Ghanaian palm nut soup Palm nut soup close up.jpg, Palm nut soup close up Palm nut soup on fire.jpg, Palm nut soup Fufu with palm nut soup, snail and tilapia.JPG, Fufu with palm nut soup, snail and tilapia

References

External links