I always craved Amala in my first pregnancy,and since I could not prepare it, I usually ate it at an Amala joint on my way back from work.
One day after I finished eating and wanted to pay, I saw the cashier/cook crumbling cubes of seasoning into the pot of peppery stew and thereafter washing off the remnant on her palms into the pot. I was too 'shook' to say anything to her, and that was the last time I went there.
I had a friend back in school was a very good and generous cook and her close friends looked forward to eating her meals.
One day, I decided to assist her in preparing the food, I chopped the vegetables and helped in washing up the dishes. When it was time to taste the soup, I watched in utter amazement as she put the cooking spoon to her mouth and dipped it back into the pot. I quickly came up with an excuse and left for my room.
The worst so far was when a family member told me not to remove the innards of the fish she wanted to cook because according to her, the fish would easily scatter. Like how?
I know I have my own bad habits like cutting vegetables in the air instead of using a chopping board and carrying hot pots with bare hands, but I don't know how people with extreme bad cooking habits fail to realize they are doing things the wrong way.
If i observe anyone with bad cooking habits,be sure that i am never eating their food again!
Madam you have not seen anything..some Amala joints if you see how their sweat and spit mix into the Amala eh,you will throw up.
The one i cannot stand is the licking of spoon and putting back into the main food....Yikessss
Yukes....throwsup....
ReplyDelete2 things u must know, pple who r over near like me, there food no Dey too Dey. But u see those foods platted in expensive dish with buttom pot taste? Kindly investigate d environment it was made. Ditty 😹
DeleteIts just better to eat your own made food.
ReplyDeleteMost of our mothers did these things when we were younger and felt it was the norm.That licking of cooking spoon was the worse eeh,thank God for technology, growth and exposure.
ReplyDeleteIf we start thinking about the hygiene of food vendors,none would eat outside.
My mom was even the one that thought me never to lick the cooking spoon, my hubby on the other hand does it a lot. I am still trying to wean him off the habit after many years of marriage. 🙄
DeleteEating out is somthing I’ve stopped for now.
ReplyDeleteAs I am, I’m easily irritated and so I prepare whatever I feel like having myself.
From not washing the pot properly and serving with dirty hands, yuck!!!
I remember one time we had a party and the lady who prepared the food kept putting her fingers in her nose. I didn’t eat what she prepared, I just did liquid.
Nobody can actually prepare food to my taste and I’ll be confortable eating it, except my mum and sisters.
I don’t like too much spices in food. I have my natural ingredients that give me exactly what I want and very rich too.
Darling please share the natural ingredients that's rich oh. Health is wealth and I care. 😁😁😂
Delete'nobody can actually prepare food to my taste and i will be comfortable eating it except my mum and sisters' hmm you never jam
DeleteSimply divine she means curry leaf,uziza,scent leave,okpei,ogiri,uda,ehuru,ginger,garlic,pepper,onions et al.
DeleteTumeric also is really good in stews and jollofs.
DeleteWhat of those ones that have catarrh,they will clean or blow their noses and continue cooking without washing their hands.
ReplyDeleteyuck..why are you like this
DeletePeople tasting the food with the spoon and putting the spoon back in the pot is not so much of a problem provided the food is still cooking - the heat from the food tends to kill the bacteria associated with that. Of course the better way is to put the food on your hand and taste that way. But hot cooking food kills those germs - that's why its important to cook meat or soups at high temperatures and preferably well done.
ReplyDeleteeven though heat kills germs,people should stop this as it is not a good habit at all
DeleteAbeg no justification for that nonsense and bad habit jare
DeleteLol. Hmmmmm, your own is a "WA"!! !
ReplyDeleteI don't eat out, I can't remember the last time I ate food not cooked by me,if you know what all these buna and eateries do, you will cook your food peacefully at home.
ReplyDeleteI once helped a friend to cook for her small birthday party despite my making sure no dirt enters the food, this girl ended up using the rag we have been using to clean our legs to hold the pot handle while stiring the rice, and you know part of the cloth go enter cos its quite big, I never tasted the food.
Parties nko, plenty saliver inside food, I will pass biko.give me drink in any function and I'm good,e better make I go home go soak my Gari in peace. If you see the water some people use ti rinse plates, Vegetables etc, even in the abundance of water o, fear go catch you to eat their food
If the lady puts spoon into her mouth and bring it back to the pot, you won't eat?
ReplyDeleteOkay, do you know that even in those five star hotels, they still use the same kpomo and beef
they bought from the markets where they prepare those meats with burnt tyres and wash them in roadside
waters?🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
my thought too,though it's a very bad habit do you know how the other big places prepare theirs
DeleteI once commented on a food cooking group on face book that I wash NY crayfish before grinding, cone n see dem calling me names, hmm I can't eat crayfish without washing with salt water, even my egunsi, I wash ,dry for days before grinding, OK let me shock you, I wash my ogbono n dry before grinding too, all these I learned from my mother, I don't eat out cos I know most people don't count some little little hygiene, done don't even wash plantain back before opening, a beg I'm naturally fat I don't want germs to add to my fatness
ReplyDeleteah madam na only you waka come? Inukwa wash egusi and ogbono before grinding me i used to wash crayfish but noticed i was washing away the deliciousness and stopped. Abeg begin fear God
DeleteBabes D, I guess this is you. We belong to the same Whatsapp group.
Delete@DeHeroine 😂
DeleteDeHeroine, very true at washing away the sweetness.
DeleteFood cola on over 100 degrees. Wash fire!!!
DeleteI'm even craving amala,gbegiri,ewedu with goat meat. See you guys later. Dirty no dey kill black man jooor.
ReplyDeleteHmm! I eat out ooo am not a very good cook,and am not a food person too, so little outside little inside,life goes on.
ReplyDeleteThat licking of spoon is gross. When i cook, I use a tablespoon to taste it. As for eating out, I have stopped it. The last time I did, I purged for days, thought I was going to pass out.
ReplyDeleteThe ones that will use their hand to dish out sphagetti
ReplyDelete😮😮😮you say?
DeleteI hardly eat out because little things irritate me...some times I even come up with excuse after cooking my own food if I do something irritating to me.
ReplyDeleteI dont think I've even eaten out since this year except snacks..cant even remember the last time I ate out..I eat my food anyhow it comes ot and I try to cook varieties....Thanks to IG.
I remember my former help gisting me how her former boss(she worked in a restaurant) leaves the remaining soup open in the shop till the next day so it wont go bad especially egusi soup,then in the morning you'll see them picking out dead cockroaches ,they reheat the food and it comes out good looking. She said such things irritated her then that she doesn't even eat their food. And you need to see the way those office people rush their food,licking their fingers,so she said....
Growing up I remember one woman selling food then ,the heat from the rice makes her sweat a lot and the sweat drops on the food and people still buy,you'll hear them say"dirty no dey kill black man"..
The one incident the made me resolve to limit my eating out was my experience in boarding school.. the woman's food was so sweet then,my friends and I do patronize her a lot,sometimes we use our tfare to buy food and trek home(I was a day student then)...at a point I stopped eating her food and I discovered one tush joint . All of a sudden I wanted to leave the school and i begged my mum to leave the school and my mum obliged. One day i learnt from my friends that were still in the school that thunder struck her dead in school and she confessed all her evil deeds. It was traumatic for me then because she was my good Customer but I thank God she didn't get me. That was the height for me. I stopped eating out except on very few occasions.
Emerald, you attended model college??
DeleteThat was my alummi school
The story is very familiar, Mama NGOZI
OAP ADA
@OAP...I did oo,yes that's her name.
DeleteI just spent two terms and I left. The school was stressful for me and my body could not take it
wowwww
Deletenice to meet you
I left after JSS3 back in 2003/2004 set
I was green house prefect and was a boarder too
Mr Olunrunfemi was the House Master
Mama Ngozi Ponmo was the best very soft and her stew was babeee
Her death was shocking, I was counting how many ponmo i ate, i even did fasting to purge myself of anything as precaution
oap ada
My elder brother told me a story about boarding school that made me cautious about eating out. They were at the back of the kitchen while one of their cooks was mixing blended beans for moi moi, she sneezed and a large chunk of catarrh fell into the beans, madam kept stirring in all the ingredients. I 😖🤢🤮
DeleteI cringe anytime i remember that story
DeleteI hardly eat out... Except on occasion I can't control.. I prefer to cook my food the way I know I can't vouch for...
ReplyDeleteProper hygiene is very key... I can't be buying food and typhoid ailment at the same time...
Nope....
That licking of cooking spoon with tongue is the worst!haba!
ReplyDeleteI also hate people that don't clean the back of their pot, unless u are cooking with firewood, I don't see any reason why the back of your pot should be black
Wont the spoon burn their tongue?
ReplyDeleteMe I crush maggi with my teeth before peeling. Dont blame me, blame mstar maggi that can like to strong anyhow.
Just drop the cubes inside the pot it will melt there, no need to crush it before putting it. Lols.
Deleteit's mostly strong during harmmatan you can slightly crush it with morta after pounding your pepper
Delete@Cyclone dropping it into the food it does not melt completely,sometimes when you scoop a spoon of food you'll see a whole maggi
Place the cubes on the pot cover while cooking, the steam will soften it. Thank me later
DeleteNever knew washing off the seasoning from your hand into the food was bad until later, when someone corrected me.in my head i felt since my hand was neat there's no big deal.
ReplyDeleteAnother bad cooking habit is eating (meat,fish,plantain etc.) While it's still cooking.
I don't like it at all,some people can finish all the meat(while it's cooking) in the name of tasting.lol
For me there's no big deal washing off seasoning into the food. Is it not same hand I used in crushing the seasoning into the food? I do it and I'm not planning to stop.
Delete@Swaggy, you and me both. Me that can wash hands more than 100 times while cooking. It's only cooking ladle I can not lick biko.
DeleteThats a dirty habit pls
Delete@swag lafresh, me too. I rinse the Maggi off my hands subconsciously sometimes. I don't think it's a bad habit. My hands are always clean, very clean when I'm cooking as I wash my hands frequently.
DeleteSince I saw the kind of rotten tomatoes hoteliers use to cook, I stopped eating outside. I will just boil egg at times add fresh tomatoes, or bread to work, that will be enough till I get to my house to prepare what I will eat in the evening.
ReplyDeletea lot of people wash seasoning hands off into the cooking pot,their reason? They are already in the cooking mood their hands are clean enough.
ReplyDeleteCutting vegetable in the air is a bad habit? Ok
who puts a whole fish into the pot without removing the bone and other yamayama? I'm just hearing this for the first time
Me I don't see washing the season off your hands into the pot as a bad habit. Afterall, it's the same clean hands I used in crushing my Maggi inside the pot.
Deleteyes anon i do it too sometimes
DeleteI wash off subconsciously but I am trying to stop
DeleteDefinitely not a good habit to wash your hand into the pot and you can't compare that with crushing the cube into the pot.
DeleteWhat about those women who sell boli or roasted corn by the roadside or by one dirty black gutter? Some, after cleaning their noses, will still use same hand to turn the boli or (roasting)roasted corn. Chai!
ReplyDeleteAs for eating out, I hardly ever do so bcos I have a very sensitive stomach. Too much spice like this, wahala de niyen.
I remember my hostel mate in uni, she prepared white rice and fish stew one day we all ate. The next day I was in her room and she wanted to prepare rice to eat with the remaining stew. Guess what! She didn't wash the rice pot from the previous day, she just added water to start cooking - she said since it was white rice she last prepared in it there was no need washing the pot again, I just carry my spirit, body and soul waka go my room that was the last time I ever ate food from her.
ReplyDeleteAnother one is those road side food sellers, especially those mama cook that are still nursing their babies. Some will blow their baby's nose and use the hand to clean their wrapper and continue with the cooking ewww!
I also don't like the idea of using tissue to clean plate (mostly in parties)
Personally when I am cooking, I don't taste till it is ready and I dish for myself to eat. I use my instincts to season whatever I am cooking and it turns out well.
Lastly, a cousin of mine who worked at a big eatery on the Island said all the left over-food are been seasoned with ajinomoto seasoning powder and served first before cooking fresh food. She said she never ate from the eatery cos the kitchen hygiene was gross.
I just remembered what one woman frying plantain at the roadside did one day.. I was walking toward her direction and I sighed the plantain on the try from afar and it looked enticing so I decided to patronize her. On getting close she was about frying the next batch and I what I saw shocked me.th plantain she was frying were the remaining ones the she had fried the previous day. She had soaked the fried plantain in water to prevent them from going bad and she drained the water and refried. I just lost my appetite immediately.
DeleteThat was how I saw one woman selling African salad using sponge for washing plate with little soap to clean the smoked kpanka fish(Eja kika)..i told her it was better to soak the fish or boil in hot water and she said the fish would scatter..I weak
Like seriously @last paragraph😮
Deletewas once at an in laws place and saw their very very dirty and unhygienic daughter cooking. Her sweat kept falling into the pot of soup and she will even sneeze into it without closing her mouth. I called her out on it and she laughed it off. And her food was usually very sweet. Needless to say Kids and I never ate there again.
ReplyDeleteThat licking of spoon I do it unconsciously....just to taste for salt it's just d tip of my tongue. And I cut vegetables in d air, chopping board will make me slice my fingers. Plus I dont share food, imagine someone licking their fingers n dipping it in my plate of soup, I go leave d food for you.
ReplyDeleteI also don't like eating with people especially draw soup and drinking garri.
DeleteI remember my hostel mate in Uni, she prepared white rice and fish stew one day and we all ate. The next day I was in her room she wanted to prepare white rice and eat with the remaining stew, she didn't wash the pot from the previous day she just washed the rice added water and started cooking in it - to her since it was rice she last prepared in it there was no need washing it. I just carried my spirit, body and soul to my room. That was the last time I ever ate any of her food.
ReplyDeleteAnd those road side food sellers, hmm! especially the ones with babies. After blowing their baby's nose they just use their wrapper to clean their hand and continue cooking ewww!
I also remember my cousin who once worked in a big eatery on the Island, she said the leftover food are being seasoned with Ajinomoto seasoning powder reheated and served first thing the next day. She also said the kitchen hygiene was so gross that she never ate their food.
Also on the issue of not removing the fish dirt's/intestines before cooking. I just feel its laziness to wash it whilst still iced. How can you cook fish and the yamayama all join. Who will be doing the separation when eating.
Another thing is the site of where suya is being prepared - you will forever hate suya.
I also don't like the idea of cleaning plates with tissue paper especially at parties.
Lastly, I personally don't taste when cooking. After cooking and I am ready to eat I dish and do the tasting/eating, I use my instincts to season and my cooking comes out pretty good.
I don't buy anything I can't wash from a nursing mother, most of them are dirty, they will change poo poo pampers without washing hands, there was a day I saw one selling tomatoes, she was dipping her hands ins the water she kept tomatoes to bring out water to wash her babies bum bum, I just carry myself away from her stall
DeleteDuring my MSc days, I use to eat amala in one joint on my way to school. On a particular day, I wanted to pay and I didn't see anyone so I had to go to the back of the shop. If you see the water they were using to wah the plates.... That was the end.
ReplyDeleteEven the baked chicken pie and meat pie nko, have u not opened some and see insect inside it
ReplyDeleteI hardly eat outside but that does not mean that the other junks we consume are cool
Make I just waka dey go
About the fish I'm guessing it's dried fish (eja Kika), some people like it whole (I do), so I don't remove the dirts in it. I just rinse the body and cook it like that. it's totally harmless and yes I'm not stopping it.
ReplyDeleteThe cooks that have big sores on their legs that they use one hand to drive away flies while the other hand is used to sort out vegetables, nko, abeg make I go throwey saliva
ReplyDeleteI'm guilty of licking my cooking spoon but I live alone and cook only for myself so I'm the only one enjoying the spit lmao. But when I cook for people, I don't lick my spoon because I wouldn't want someone else to lick their spoons when cooking for me.
ReplyDeleteEw so many gross stories... where y'all eating at???
ReplyDeletei have a phobia for eating at certain places, especially at fast foods outlets because i always think some unhinged worker would spit in my food😕
At present,I hardly eat out except at rare occasion and hubby does so as well. Good hygiene is becoming problem for lots of individuals
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone I really enjoyed this post ,what about the gross things some food vendors do to attract customers? Those ones na helele,I hardly eat out except I am forced because I am a spoilt eater
ReplyDeleteMiss Dee You know some mama put add paracetamol or other forms of pain killers to soften meat!
ReplyDeleteHmmmm na so I hear ooo
DeleteI don't eat out,cause if things like that,the trust is most people don't even keep the environment of where the prepare those foods so over the years I decided to make everything I and my family eat,try out new things like baking and all so they kids don't get bored with food.
ReplyDelete