Community Kitchen: A journey to Nigeria

Redbank Plains resident Tunde Solanke didn’t have refrigeration in his Nigerian village. But there’s an upside to that – most of the food they ate was fresh that day. 

“When you want to cook you go and pick all your vegetables fresh from the garden,” he said.

Tunde headed off from his village, Ogunbona, to Australia in 1975. He studied medical technology on a scholarship. It was quite a culture shock at first.

“The first three months I wanted to go back, the food was very different,” he said. “Much more meat than I was used to. I’ve been to barbecues so many times. I just hate it.

“The weather was also much cooler here, and changes more often. Nigeria is always 24-30 degrees all year around.”

This dish holds a special place in Tunde’s heart. “My mother would cook this for me after school,” he said.

“I would come back from school and I was always in a hurry to get back outside to play. So Mum had the beans always ready. All she had to do was add hot water to the Garri and it was ready.”

After a brief time back in Nigeria, Tunde started a job at St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne before moving onto the hospital at Armidale.

He then worked at the Brisbane Princess Alexandra hospital for many years and then finally as a carer for Disability Services Queensland where he has been for the past 16 years.

He moved to Redbank Plains 18 years ago. “Ipswich is small, like a big village,” he said.

“The cost of living is cheaper here. Brisbane was getting a bit too crowded. We bought the land and built here in 2009.

“We’ve seen a lot of changes out here. When we moved in here the whole area was semi-rural. We are on a half-acre here and we were surrounded by acreage.”

His large garden is perfect for his interest in permaculture. He has an edible landscape with lots of fruit trees, citrus, olives, banana, pineapples and passionfruit.

Tunde is passionate about Nigerian food. “Garri to Africa is what rice is to Asia. It used as a base for so many dishes,” he said.

“I get mine from Goodna at the African shop there. It’s very versatile. It’s made from a vegetable called Cassava.”

Nigeria is the world’s largest producer of cassava. To become “garri”, the vegetable is peeled, grated and dry roasted.

“If you add cold water and honey to it, you have the consistency of a dessert. If you add hot water, you have the right consistency for Ewa,” he said.

“Black eyed beans are also grown in Nigeria. This is a very popular meal all over west Africa,” he said.