Nigeria's Contribution to Midnight Feasts

In Australia, after a good night out and a few beers, it is generally customary to end the night with a hearty snack. However, the only places typically open in the early hours of Saturday morning, belong to the well-known, and much maligned Kebab shops.

Now I am generally a fan of the Kebab. Hot, greasy, plenty of meat, the option of cheese and fairly cheap. With the added advantage of being able to pick your toppings. But here in Nigeria I have been enjoying plenty of their own variety of the after-drinks, snack-stop – Suya.

Nigerian's have managed to cut the process down to its pure essentials – namely lots of grilled meat and not much else. It is of course customary, like most foods here, to sprinkle a generous helping of pepper on the meat.

Typically, one goes up to a seller on the roadside, selects a steak-like piece of beef, leg of chicken or skewer, negotiates a reasonable price and the meat is then given its final grilling on hot coals (or sometimes it comes ready hot). The seller will then slice it up into bite sized pieces, sprinkled with the pepper and normally served wrapped in newspaper with some sliced onion, and if your lucky some tomato. If the seller is well stocked you can even choose your preference for the portion of meat (many people here like beef kidney).

Of course this all comes with the advantage of coming out to around to 1 Australian dollar so you can't complain about the price. Am definitely a fan of this custom.