With food as the centerpiece of fellowship with family, neighbors, and friends, the Nigerian kitchen is warm, happy, and full of drama. And so it is with a great love for fellowship and food that Nigerian husband and wife team Deji and Iswat Badiru share a variety of ethnic recipes pulled together over years of cooking, eating, and savoring their culture's traditional food.

The Badirus, who love experimenting with food as much as tasting their creations, rely on their years of experience in the Nigerian kitchen to offer an intriguing and informative glimpse into a culture where food is not only embraced, but also worshipped in some areas. While sharing a unique, behind-the scenes look into the food preparation process and the science of transforming ingredients, they also offer tips on healthy eating practices, proper cooking techniques, and effective management of projects in the kitchen. Included are many delicious recipes such as fried plantain and fried egg, cassava grits, okra soup with meat, and meat pie.

"Physics in the Nigerian Kitchen" is a unique guide to cooking African fare that provides encouragement and valuable information for anyone interested in cultivating a joy and love for food, friends, and family in their own kitchen.

Food is celebrated as a key element of the Nigerian culture. Food is embraced for fellowship, worship, and survival. The staple foods of Nigeria include rice, yam, cassava, and wheat (bread). Traditionally, Nigerians (at least the elders) don't cook by recipe. The fine art of cooking Nigerian food is normally handed down through observation, apprenticeship, and experimentation. When asked how they cook so well without a written guide, the older Nigerian mothers would only say that "they just do it." This attests to their experiential learning of the art of Nigerian cooking. As modern practices take root, more and more Nigerians are resorting to the guiding "hands" of written recipes. That is what informs the writing of this book. Our American and European friends often request copies of Nigerian recipes. If not written down, the much-desired Nigerian recipes cannot be disseminatee and promulgated throughout the world. Thus, it is the hope that this book will contribute to providing a lasting archival repository of Nigerian recipes, just as other books before it have done.

Nigerian foods, particularly the soups, are usually spicy hot. Each family often has its own twists and turns to the process of achieving hotter and hotter meals. The common belief is that eating spicy foods is good for the heart and facilitates longevity. "Mild" is not normally in the vocabulary of Nigerian menu, except when dealing with our Western counterparts.

The diversity of thoughts, beliefs, and Nigerian kitchen practices lead to many different ways of preparing the same food. As such, many of the recipes in this book do present alternate approaches to preparing the same basic food. Please don't be timid, experiment and enjoy