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The '''Ijaw''' (also known by the subgroups "'''Ijo'''" or "'''Izon'''") are a collection of peoples [[indigenous peoples of Africa|indigenous]] mostly to the forest regions of the [[Bayelsa]][[Delta State, Nigeria|Delta]] and [[Rivers]] States within the [[Niger Delta]] in [[Nigeria]]. Some are natives of [[Akwa Ibom]], [[Edo State|Edo]] and [[Ondo State|Ondo]] states also in [[Nigeria]]. Many are found as migrant fishermen in settlements as far west as [[Sierra Leone]] and as far east as [[Gabon]] along the [[West]] [[African]] coastline. They are believed to be some of the earliest inhabitants of [[southern Nigeria]]
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*Cookery practised by indigenous people of [[South Africa]] such as the [[Khoisan]] and [[Xhosa]]- and [[Sotho]]-speaking people
The Ijo people number about 9 million. They have long lived in locations near many sea trade  routes, and they were well connected to other areas by trade as early as the 15th century [http://www.uiowa.edu/~africart/toc/people/Ijo.html].
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*Settler cookery introduced during the colonial period by people of [[Afrikaner]] and [[Briton|British]] descent and their [[slaves]] and servants - this includes the cuisine of the [[Cape Malay]] people, which has many characteristics of [[Malaysia]] and [[Java (island)|Java]], and recipes from neighbouring colonial cultures such as [[Portugal|Portuguese]] [[Mozambique]].
  
==Linguistic relationships==
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==Indigenous cookery==
{{main|Ijoid languages}}
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In the precolonial period indigenous cuisine was characterized by the use of a very wide range of fruits, nuts, bulbs, leaves and other products gathered from wild plants and by the hunting of wild game. The domestication of cattle in the region about two thousand years ago by [[Khoisan]] groups enabled the use of [[milk]] products and the availability of fresh meat on demand. However, during the colonial period the seizure of communal land in South Africa helped to restrict and discourage traditional [[agriculture]] and wild harvesting, and reduced the extent of land available to [[black people|black]] people.  
The Ijaw speak nine closely-related [[Niger-Congo languages|Niger-Congo]] languages, all of which belong to the [[Ijoid languages|Ijoid]] branch of the Niger-Congo tree. The primary division between the [[Ijo languages]] is that between Eastern Ijo and Western Ijo, the most important of the former group of languages being [[Izon language|Izon]], which is spoken by about four million people. There are two prominent groupings of this language. The first group is nominally termed "Western" or "Central" Ijaw or Izon, and consists of "Western" Ijaw speakers (Mein, Bassan, Apoi, Arogbo, Bumo, Kabuowei, Ogboin, Tarakiri, etc  variety) as well Kolokuma-Opokuma ([[Yenagoa]] and the vicinity). [[Nembe-Brasss]] and [[Akassa]] (Ahasa) dialects are referred to as "Ijo South-East". These groups, since 1996, mainly constitutes Bayelsa State, but spills over to Delta, Edo and Ondo States. [[Biseni]] and [[Okodia]] dialect
 
are termded "Inland" Ijo
 
The other major group is [[Kalabari language|Kalabari]]. Kalabari is an "Eastern" Ijaw language but the term "Eastern Ijaw" is not the normal nomenclature. Kalabari is the name one of the clans of the Ijaws that reside on the eastern side of the Niger-Delta (Abonnema, Buguma, Degema etc who form a major group in Rivers State, hence their involvement in the fight for greater oil control.  Other "Eastern" Ijaw clans are the [[Okrika]], Ibani (the natives of Bonny, Finima and Opobo) and [[Nkoroo]]. They are neighbours to the [[Kalabari]] in present day [[Rivers State]] of [[Nigeria]].
 
  
Other related Ijo sub-groups which have distinct linguistic relations but very close blood (i.e genetic), cultural and territorial homogenity with the rest of the Ijaw are Epie-Atisa clan, Engenni people and Udekama  (which speak Delta [[Edoid]] Languages); and Ogbia clan, Bukuma, Abuloma ([[Obulom]]) and Andoni (which speak [[Delta Cross]] languages).
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===Decline of indigenous cookery===
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[[Urbanization]] from the nineteenth century onward, coupled with close control over agricultural production, led [[black people|black]] South Africans to rely more and more on comparatively expensive, industrially-processed foodstuffs like wheat flour, white rice, mealie (maize) meal and sugar. Often these foods were imported or processed by [[white people|white]] wholesalers, mills and factories. The consequence was to drastically restrict the range of ingredients and cooking styles used by indigenous cooks.
 +
On the other hand, some imported food plants (maize, tomatoes) have expanded the dietary range of indigenous cooks. Of these maize is the most significant - it has been integrated to such an extent into the traditional diet that it is often assumed to be an indigenous plant.
  
It was discovered in the 1980s that a nearly-extinct [[Berbice Creole Dutch]], spoken in Guyana, is based on Ijo [[lexicon]] and [[grammar]]. Its nearest relative seems to be Eastern Ijo, most likely Kalabari (Kouwenberg 1994).
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Popular foods im modern South Aigffrica are chicken, limes, garlic, ginger, chili, tomatoes, onions and many spices.
  
==Traditional occupations==
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==Settler cookery==
The Ijaw were one of the first of Nigeria's peoples to have contact with Westerners, and were active as go-betweens in trade between visiting Europeans and the peoples of the interior, particularly in the era before the discovery of [[quinine]], when West Africa was still known as the ''[[White Man's Graveyard]]'' because of the endemic presence of [[malaria]]. Some of the kin-based trading lineages that arose among the Ijaw developed into substantial corporations which were known as "Houses"; each house had an elected leader as well as a fleet of war canoes for use in protecting trade and fighting rivals. The other main occupation common among the Ijaw has traditionally been fishing and farming.
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South Africa was settled from the seventeenth century onwards by colonists from the [[Netherlands]], [[Germany]] and [[France]], and later by arrivals from the [[British Isles]]. These colonists brought European cookery styles with them.  
  
Being a maritime people, many Ijaw people were employed in the merchant shipping sector in the early and mid-20th century (pre-Nigerian independence). With the advent of oil and gas exploration in their territory, some are employed in that sector.
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===Cape Dutch===
Other main occupation are mainly in the civil service of the Nigerian States of [[Bayelsa]] and [[Rivers]] were they are predominant.
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Traditional cookery of South Africa is often referred to as "Cape Dutch"; this cuisine is characterized by the use of spices such as [[nutmeg]], [[allspice]] and [[hot pepper]]s. The Cape Dutch cookery style owes at least as much to the cookery of the [[slaves]] brought by the [[Dutch East India Company]] to the Cape from [[Bengal]], [[Java (island)|Java]] and [[Malaysia]] as it does to the European styles of cookery imported by settlers, and this is reflected in the use of eastern spices and the names given to many of these dishes.  
  
Extensive state-government sponsored overseas [[scholarship]] programs in the 1970s and 1980s have
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===Indian cookery===
also led to a significant presence of Ijaw [[professionals]] in Europe and North America (so-called Ijaw Diaspora). Another contributing factor to this [[human capital flight]] is the abject poverty in their homeland of the [[Niger Delta]] resulting from decades of neglect by the Nigerian government in spite of continuous petroleum prospecting in this region.
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[[Curry]] dishes are popular in South Africa among people of all ethnic origins; many dishes came to the country with the thousands of [[Asians in South Africa|Indian]] labourers brought to South Africa in the nineteenth century.
  
==Lifestyle==
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==Restaurants and fast food outlets==
The Ijaw people live by farming ( [[paddy]]-[[rice]], [[plantains]], [[yams]], cocoyams, [[bananas]] and other vegetables as well as tropcal fruits such as [[guava]], [[mangoes]] and [[pineapple]]), supplemented by fishing and trading. Smoke-dried fish, [[timber]], [[palm oil]] and [[palm]][[kernels]] are processed for export. While some clans (those to the east- [[Akassa]], [[Nembe]], [[Kalabari]], [[Bonny]], [[Okrika]] and [[Opobo]]) had powerful chiefs and a [[stratified]] [[ society]], other clans had no centralized leader until the arrival of the British. However, owing to influence of the neighbouring [[Kingdom of Benin]] individual communities even in the western [[Niger Delta]] also had chiefs and governments at the village level.
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South Africa can be said to have a real "eating out" culture. While there are some restaurants that specialize in traditional South African dishes or modern interpretations thereof, restaurants featuring other cuisines such as [[Morocco|Moroccan]], [[China|Chinese]], [[West Africa|West African]], [[Congo|Congolese]] and [[Japan|Japanese]] can be found in all of the major cities and many of the larger towns. In addition, there are also a large number of home-grown chain restaurants, such as [[Spur (restaurant chain)|Spur]] and [[Dulce Cafe]].
  
Marriages are completed by the payment of a bridal [[dowry]], which increases in size if the bride is from another village (so as to make up for that village's loss of her children). [[Funeral]] ceremonies, particularly for those who have accumulated wealth and respect, are often very dramatic. Traditional religious practices center around "Water spirits" in the Niger river, and around tribute to [[ancestors]].
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There is also a proliferation of [[fast food]] restaurants in South Africa. While there are some international players such as [[McDonalds]] and [[Kentucky Fried Chicken]] active in the country, they face stiff competition from local chains such as [[Nando's]] and [[Steers]].
  
==Religion and cultural practices==
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Many of the restaurant chains originating from South-Africa have also expanded successfully outside the borders of the country.
Although the Ijaw are now primarily [[Christian]]s ( 95% profess to be), with [[Catholicism]] and [[Anglicanism]] being the varieties of Christianity most prevalent among them, the Ijaw have elaborate traditional religious practices of their own. Veneration of ancestors plays a central role in Ijaw traditional religion, while water spirits, known as ''Owuamapu'' figure prominently in the Ijaw pantheon. In addition, the Ijaw practice a form of [[divination]] called ''Igbadai'', in which recently deceased individuals are interrogated on the causes of their death.
 
  
Ijaw religious beliefs hold that water spirits are like humans in having personal strengths and shortcomings, and that humans dwell among the water spirits before being born. The role of prayer in the traditional Ijaw system of belief is to maintain the living in the good graces of the water spirits among whom they dwelt before being born into this world, and each year the Ijaw hold celebrations in honor the spirits lasting for several days. Central to the festivities is the role of masquerades, in which men wearing elaborate outfits and carved masks dance to the beat of drums and manifest the influence of the water spirits through the quality and intensity of their dancing. Particularly spectacular masqueraders are taken to actually be in the possession of the particular spirits on whose behalf they are dancing.
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==Typical South African foods and dishes==
 +
*[[Biltong]], a salty dried meat (similar to [[jerky (food)|jerky]])
 +
*[[Bobotie]], a dish of [[Malaysia|Malay]] descent, is like [[meatloaf]] with [[raisin]]s and with baked [[egg (food)|egg]] on top, and is often served with yellow [[rice]], [[sambal]]s, [[coconut]], [[banana]] slices, and [[chutney]]
 +
*[[Boerewors]], a [[sausage]] that is traditionally ''[[braai]]ed'' ([[barbeque]]d)
 +
*[[Bunny chow]], [[curry]] stuffed into a hollowed-out loaf of bread
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*[[Chutney]], a sweet sauce made from fruit that is usually poured on meat, especially a local brand called ''[[Mrs Ball's Chutney]]''
 +
*''[[Frikkadel]]le'' - [[meatballs]]
 +
*''Gesmoorde vis'', salted [[cod]] with [[potato]]es and [[tomato]]es and sometimes served with [[apricot]] jam
 +
*''Hoenderpastei'', chicken pie, traditional [[Afrikaans]] fare
 +
*''[[Isidudu]]'', pumpkin pap
 +
*[[Koeksister]]s come in two forms and are a sweet delicacy. Afrikaans koeksisters are twisted [[pastry|pastries]], deep fried and heavily sweetened. Koeksisters found on the [[Cape Flats]] are sweet and spicy, shaped like large eggs, and deep-fried
 +
*[[Malva Pudding]], a sweet spongy [[Apricot]] [[pudding]] of [[Netherlands|Dutch]] origin.
 +
*''[[Mashonzha]]'', made from the [[mopane worm]]
 +
*''[[Melktert]]'' (milk tart), a milk-based tart or dessert
 +
*''[[Melkkos]]'' (milk food), another milk-based dessert
 +
*[[Mealie-bread]], a sweet bread baked with [[sweetcorn]]
 +
*[[Mielie-meal]], one of the staple foods, often used in baking but predominantly cooked into [[pap (food)|pap]], or ''phutu'', a traditional [[Bantu]] [[porridge]] which is usually eaten with [[bean]]s, [[gravy]], or [[meat]]
 +
*[[Ostrich]] is an increasingly popular [[protein]] source as it has a low [[cholesterol]] content; it is either used in a stew or filleted and grilled
 +
*''Pampoenkoekies'' (pumpkin fritters), ''patatrolle'' (sweet potato rolls) and a further variety of baked goods where flour has been supplemented with or replaced by [[pumpkin]] or [[sweet potato]]
 +
*''Potbrood'' (pot bread), savoury bread baked over coals in cast-iron pots
 +
*''[[Potjiekos]]'', a traditional [[African]] [[stew]] made with meat and vegetables and cooked over coals in [[cast-iron]] pots
 +
*[[Rusk]]s, a rectangular, hard, dry [[biscuit]] eaten after being dunked in [[tea]] or [[coffee]]; they are either home-baked or shop-bought (with the most popular brand being ''[[Ouma Rusks]]'')
 +
*[[Samosa]] or ''samoosa'', a savoury stuffed [[Indians in South Africa|Indian]] [[pastry]] that is fried
 +
*[[Sosatie]]s, grilled marinated meat on a [[skewer]]
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*[[Tomato bredie]], a [[lamb]] and [[tomato]] [[stew]]
 +
*[[Trotter]]s and [[Bean]]s, from the [[Eastern Cape|Cape]], made from boiled pig's or sheep's trotters and [[onion]]s and beans
 +
*''[[Umngqusho]]'', a dish made from [[semolina]] and black-eyed [[pea]]s
 +
*''[[Vetkoek]]'' (fat cake), deep-fried [[dough]] balls, typically stuffed with meat or served with jam
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*''[[Waterblommetjiebredie|Waterblommetjie bredie]]'' (water flower stew), meat [[stew]]ed with the flower of the [[Cape Pondweed]]
  
The ijaw are also known to practice [[ritual]] [[acculturation]] whereby a member of a different unrelated group undergoes rituals to become Ijaw. An example of this is [[Jaja]] of [[Opobo]], the Igbo slave-boy who became a powerful [[Ibani]] ([[Bonny]]) chief in the 19th century. Along with the [[Hebrew]], they appear to be among the few living groups that carry out this practice.
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==References==
 +
*Coetzee, Renata, 1977. ''The South African Culinary Tradition'', C. Struik Publishers, Cape Town, South Africa.
 +
*Leipoldt, C. Louis, 1976. ''Leipoldt’s Cape Cookery'', Fleesch and Partners, Cape Town, South Africa.
 +
*Van Wyk, B. and Gericke, N., 2000. ''People's plants: A guide to useful plants of Southern Africa'', Briza, [[Pretoria]], [[South Africa]].
 +
*Wylie, D., 2001. ''Starving on a Full Stomach: Hunger and the Triumph of Cultural Racism in Modern South Africa'', University of Virginia Press, Charlottesville, VA., United States of America.
 +
*[http://www.routledge-ny.com/ref/africanhist/farming.html Routledge Encyclopaedia of Africa - Farming]
  
==Food customs==
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==External links==
Like many ethnic groups in Nigeria, the Ijaws have many local foods that are not widespread in Nigeria. Many of these foods involve fish and other seafoods such as clams, oysters and periwinkles; yams and plantains. Some of these foods are:
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*[http://www.southafrica.info/plan_trip/holiday/food_wine/food.htm South African cuisine - International Marketing Council of South Africa web site]
*'''Polofiyai''' &mdash; A very rich soup made with yams and palm oil
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*[http://www.cp-pc.ca/english/southafrica/eating.html Eating the South African way]
*'''Kekefiyai'''&mdash; A pottage made with chopped unripened (green) plantains, fish, other seafood or [[game]] [[meat]] ("[[bushmeat]]") and palm oil
 
*'''Fried fish and plantain''' &mdash; Fish fried in palm oil and served with fried plantains
 
*'''Gbe''' &mdash; The grub of the raffia-palm tree beetle that is eaten raw, dried or pickled in palm oil
 
*'''Kalabari "sea-harvest" fulo'''&mdash; A rich mixed seafood soup or stew that is eaten with [[foofoo]], rice or yams
 
 
 
==Ethnic identity==
 
Formerly organized into several loose clusters of villages which cooperated to defend themselves against outsiders, the Ijaw increasingly view themselves as belonging to a single coherent nation, bound together by ties of language and culture. This tendency has been encouraged in large part by what are considered to be environmental depredations that have accompanied the discovery of oil in the Niger delta region which the Ijaw call home, as well as by a revenue sharing formula with the Nierian Federal government that is viewed by the Ijaw as manifestly unfair. The resulting sense of grievance has led to several high-profile clashes with the Nigerian Federal authorities, including kidnappings and  in the course of which many lives have been lost.
 
  
==Ijaw-Itsekiri conflicts==
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{{Cuisine of Africa}}
One manifestation of ethnic assertiveness on the part of the Ijaw has been an increase in the number and severity of clashes between Ijaw militants and those of [[Itsekiri]] origin, particularly in the town of [[Warri, Nigeria|Warri]]. While the Ijaw and the Itsekiri have lived alongside each other for centuries, for the most part harmoniously, the Itsekiri were first to make contact with European traders, as early as the 16th century, and they were more aggressive both in seeking Western education and in using the knowledge acquired to press their commercial advantages; until the arrival of Sir [[George Taubman Goldie|George Goldie]]'s National Africa Company (later renamed the [[Royal Niger Company]]) in 1879, Itsekiri chieftains monopolized trade with Europeans in the Western Niger region. Despite the loss of their monopoly, the advantages already held by the Itsekiri ensured that they continued to enjoy a superior position to that held by the Ijaw, breeding in the latter a sense of resentment at what they felt to be colonial favoritism towards the Itsekiri.
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{{South African topics}}
  
The departure of the British at independence did not lead, as might have been expected, to a decrease in tensions between the Ijaw and the Itsekiri. With the discovery of large [[petroleum|oil]] reserves in the Niger Delta region in the early 1960s, a new bone of contention was introduced, as the ability to claim ownership of a given piece of land now promised to yield immense benefits in terms of jobs and infrastructural benefits to be provided by the oil companies. Despite this new factor, rivalry between the Ijaw and the Itsekiri did not actually escalate to the level of violent conflict between the two groups until the late 1990s, when the death of General [[Sani Abacha]] in 1997 led to a re-emergence of local politics.
 
 
The issue of local government ward allocation has proven particularly contentious, as the Ijaw feel that the way in which wards have been allocated ensures that their superior numbers will not be reflected in the number of wards controlled by politicians of Ijaw ethnicity. Control of the city of Warri, the largest metropolitan area in Delta State and therefore a prime source of political patronage, has been an especially fiercely contested prize. This has given birth to heated disputes between the Ijaw, the Itsekiri and the [[Urhobo]] about which of the three groups are "truly" indigenous to the Warri region, with the underlying presumption being that the "real" indigenes should have control of the levers of power, regardless of the fact that all three groups enjoy ostensibly equal political rights in their places of residence.
 
 
==Oil conflict==
 
{{main|Nigerian Oil Crisis}}
 
The December 1998 All Ijaw Youths Conference crystallized the struggle with the formation of the [[Ijaw Youth Movement]] (IYM) and the issuing of the [[Kaiama Declaration]]. In it, long-held Ijaw concerns about the loss of control of their homeland and their own lives to the oil companies were joined with a commitment to direct action. In the declaration, and in a letter to the companies, the Ijaws called for oil companies to suspend operations and withdraw from Ijaw territory. The IYM pledged “to struggle peacefully for freedom, self-determination and ecological justice,” and prepared a campaign of celebration, prayer, and direct action '[[Operation Climate Change]]' beginning [[December 28]].
 
 
In December 1998, two warships and 10-15,000 Nigerian troops occupied Bayelsa and Delta states as the [[Ijaw Youth Movement]] (IYM) mobilized for [[Operation Climate Change]].  Soldiers entering the Bayelsa state capital of Yenagoa announced they had come to attack the youths trying to stop the oil companies. On the morning of [[December 30]], two thousand young people processed through Yenagoa, dressed in black, singing and dancing. Soldiers opened fire with rifles, machine guns, and tear gas, killing at least three protesters and arresting twenty-five more. After a march demanding the release of those detained was turned back by soldiers, three more protesters were shot dead including Nwashuku Okeri and Ghadafi Ezeifile. The military declared a state of emergency throughout Bayelsa state, imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew, and banned meetings. At military roadblocks, local residents were severely beaten or detained. At night, soldiers invaded private homes, terrorizing residents with beatings and women and girls with rape.
 
 
On [[January 4]], [[1999]] about one hundred soldiers from the military base at [[Chevron Corporation|Chevron]]’s Escravos facility attacked [[Opia]] and [[Ikiyan]], two Ijaw communities in Delta State. [[Bright Pablogba]], the traditional leader of Ikiyan, who came to the river to negotiate with the soldiers, was shot along with a seven-year-old girl and possibly dozens of others. Of the approximately 1,000 people living in the two villages, four people were found dead and sixty-two were still missing months after the attack. The same soldiers set the villages ablaze, destroyed canoes and fishing equipment, killed livestock, and destroyed churches and religious shrines.
 
 
Nonetheless, Operation Climate Change continued, and disrupted Nigerian oil supplies through much of 1999 by turning off valves through Ijaw territory. In the context of high conflict between the Ijaw and the Nigerian Federal Government (and its police and army), the military carried out the [[Odi massacre]], killing scores if not hundreds of Ijaws.
 
 
Recent actions by Ijaws against the oil industry have included both renewed efforts at nonviolent action and militarized attacks on oil installations but with no human casualties to foreign oil workers despite hostage-takings.  These attacks are usually in response to non-fulfilment by oil companies of memoranda of understanding with their host communities.
 
 
==References==
 
* Human Rights Watch, “Delta Crackdown,” May 1999
 
* Ijaw Youth Movement, letter to “All Managing Directors and Chief Executives of transnational oil companies operating in Ijawland,” [[December 18]], [[1998]]
 
* Project Underground, "Visit the World of Chevron: Niger Delta", 1999
 
 
==External links==
 
*[http://www.ijawdictionary.com The Ijaw Language Dictionary]
 
*[http://www.ijawdictionaryonline.com The Ijaw Language Dictionary Online]
 
*[http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=2430 Ethnologue: Ijaw Linguistic Tree]
 
*[http://www.uiowa.edu/~africart/toc/people/Ijo.html  Ijo People]
 
*[http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/sokari/ American Museum of Natural History: The Art of the Kalabari Masquerade]
 
*[http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/nigeria1103/index.htm The Warri Crisis: Fueling Violence - Human Rights Watch Report, November 2003]
 
*[http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/02/junger200702 "Blood Oil"] by [[Sebastian Junger]] in ''[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'', February 2007 (accessed 28/1/2007), deals partly with the Ijaw
 
  
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[[Category:South African cuisine| ]]
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[[Category:African cuisine|South Africa]]
  
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Nigeria]]
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[[Category:Ijaw| ]]
 
[[Category:Energy in Nigeria]]
 
[[Category:History of Nigeria]]
 
  
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Revision as of 14:34, 7 May 2007

Indigenous cookery

In the precolonial period indigenous cuisine was characterized by the use of a very wide range of fruits, nuts, bulbs, leaves and other products gathered from wild plants and by the hunting of wild game. The domestication of cattle in the region about two thousand years ago by Khoisan groups enabled the use of milk products and the availability of fresh meat on demand. However, during the colonial period the seizure of communal land in South Africa helped to restrict and discourage traditional agriculture and wild harvesting, and reduced the extent of land available to black people.

Decline of indigenous cookery

Urbanization from the nineteenth century onward, coupled with close control over agricultural production, led black South Africans to rely more and more on comparatively expensive, industrially-processed foodstuffs like wheat flour, white rice, mealie (maize) meal and sugar. Often these foods were imported or processed by white wholesalers, mills and factories. The consequence was to drastically restrict the range of ingredients and cooking styles used by indigenous cooks. On the other hand, some imported food plants (maize, tomatoes) have expanded the dietary range of indigenous cooks. Of these maize is the most significant - it has been integrated to such an extent into the traditional diet that it is often assumed to be an indigenous plant.

Popular foods im modern South Aigffrica are chicken, limes, garlic, ginger, chili, tomatoes, onions and many spices.

Settler cookery

South Africa was settled from the seventeenth century onwards by colonists from the Netherlands, Germany and France, and later by arrivals from the British Isles. These colonists brought European cookery styles with them.

Cape Dutch

Traditional cookery of South Africa is often referred to as "Cape Dutch"; this cuisine is characterized by the use of spices such as nutmeg, allspice and hot peppers. The Cape Dutch cookery style owes at least as much to the cookery of the slaves brought by the Dutch East India Company to the Cape from Bengal, Java and Malaysia as it does to the European styles of cookery imported by settlers, and this is reflected in the use of eastern spices and the names given to many of these dishes.

Indian cookery

Curry dishes are popular in South Africa among people of all ethnic origins; many dishes came to the country with the thousands of Indian labourers brought to South Africa in the nineteenth century.

Restaurants and fast food outlets

South Africa can be said to have a real "eating out" culture. While there are some restaurants that specialize in traditional South African dishes or modern interpretations thereof, restaurants featuring other cuisines such as Moroccan, Chinese, West African, Congolese and Japanese can be found in all of the major cities and many of the larger towns. In addition, there are also a large number of home-grown chain restaurants, such as Spur and Dulce Cafe.

There is also a proliferation of fast food restaurants in South Africa. While there are some international players such as McDonalds and Kentucky Fried Chicken active in the country, they face stiff competition from local chains such as Nando's and Steers.

Many of the restaurant chains originating from South-Africa have also expanded successfully outside the borders of the country.

Typical South African foods and dishes

References

  • Coetzee, Renata, 1977. The South African Culinary Tradition, C. Struik Publishers, Cape Town, South Africa.
  • Leipoldt, C. Louis, 1976. Leipoldt’s Cape Cookery, Fleesch and Partners, Cape Town, South Africa.
  • Van Wyk, B. and Gericke, N., 2000. People's plants: A guide to useful plants of Southern Africa, Briza, Pretoria, South Africa.
  • Wylie, D., 2001. Starving on a Full Stomach: Hunger and the Triumph of Cultural Racism in Modern South Africa, University of Virginia Press, Charlottesville, VA., United States of America.
  • Routledge Encyclopaedia of Africa - Farming

External links

Template:Cuisine of Africa Template:South African topics


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