Longthroat Memoirs: Soups, Sex and Nigerian Taste Buds

By Yemisi Aribisala

“One of the most enduring myths on the Nigerian Femme Fatale – mammy-water, ‘winch’ or husband-snatcher – has to do with the cooking of fish stew …A woman can do what she likes with a man when she knows how to satisfy his appetite for food.”Longthroat Memoirs presents a sumptuous menu of essays about Nigerian food, lovingly presented by the nation’s top epicurean writer. As well as a mouth-watering appraisal of the cultural politics and erotics of Nigerian cuisine, it is also a series of love letters to the Nigerian palate. From innovations in soup, fish as aphrodisiac and the powerful seductions of the yam, Longthroat Memoirs examines the complexities, the peculiarities, the meticulousness, and the tactility of Nigerian food. Nigeria has a strong culture of oral storytelling, of myth creation, of imaginative traversing of worlds. Longthroat Memoirs collates some of those stories into an irresistible soup-pot, expressed in the flawless love language of appetite and nourishment.A sensuous testament on why, when and how Nigerians eat the food they love to eat; t
his book is a welcome addition to the global dining table of ideas

About the Author:
Yemisi Aribisala is a writer and a lover of good food. She has written about Nigerian food for over 7 years; for 234Next, the Chimurenga Chronic, and at her personal blog, Longthroat Memoirs. Her essays on food are a lens through which the complex entity of Nigeria is observed. Yemisi has also written essays on various topics including Nigerian Christianity and identity. Her essays can be read online under Yemisi Ogbe.