We Cannot Eat Our Cake and Have It

A history of wheat finds the crop gaining popularity during the colonial era when white bread made from imported wheat was mostly consumed by wealthy foreigners.

Written by Ayoola Oladipupo

Jul 13, 2022

Photography by ICARDA / FLICKR.

‘Look at your plates when you eat. These imported grains of rice, corn, and millet—that is imperialism.’ — Thomas Sankara

The past couple of months have seen a lot of discussion in the media about the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on food security in Africa, highlighting the continent’s staggering agricultural trade deficit. Bringing this closer to home, a question that increasingly resonates concerning Nigeria’s high levels of wheat importation is, why do we eat what we eat? This article in Quartz made me recall a conversation I had with my uncle a few years ago, over a meal of ewedu and amala dudu (black amala made from yam flour), a staple food in Ibadan. My uncle explained that the predominant form of amala when he was growing up in rural Ibadan was amala lafun (white amala), a variation of the same meal made from cassava flour. In the past, amala dudu was mostly consumed by the small urban Ibadan population, due to yam’s cultural relevance and high price marking it as a food for special occasions. As a result of increased rapid urbanization over the past decade, and higher supply of yam due to increased local production, amala dudu gradually displaced amala lafun as the predominant variation of amala consumed in Ibadan. Barring a quick google search I made during the conversation with my uncle, I have never seen this white amala my uncle spoke of.

THE RISE OF WHEAT CONSUMPTION

There is a rich story in every plate of food—a complex interplay of social, economic and political factors involved in establishing foods as ‘staple’ in any society. The story I tell here is that of wheat consumption in Nigeria, which has increased from 300,000 tonnes in 1970 to about six million tonnes as of 2021, a 20x increase in two generations. Over 90 per cent of wheat supply in Nigeria is used to produce wheat flour, which is mostly used in making bread, pasta and noodles—staple foods in today’s Nigeria. According to FAOSTAT data, Nigeria currently spends about $1.5 billion annually (five per cent of its entire import bill) on wheat importation to sustain this astronomical increase in consumption. This increase has been primarily driven by rising appetites for ‘foreign’ convenience foods and baked products. Strikingly, pasta production accounted for up to 15 per cent of wheat flour usage in Nigeria in 2020, from less than 1 per cent in 1999. During my research for this story, I told a close friend these statistics and their response was, ‘well, we have to eat bread and pasta, right?’ Let’s try to answer this question.

A HISTORY OF WHEAT IMPORTATION

To better understand the rising demand for wheat flour in Nigeria, it is important to understand the history of wheat consumption in Nigeria. Wheat is a non-traditional crop in Nigeria and began to seep into the Nigerian food system during the colonial era, when white bread made from imported wheat was mostly consumed by wealthy foreigners...

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This story features in our print issue, 'The Road to 2023'.

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About the Author

Ayoola Oladipupo

is a management consultant based in Lagos with a keen interest in food culture, studying the impact of colonization and neo-colonization on the interplay between food choices and identity. His writing has featured in Africa Is a Country and Nigeria Health Watch.

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We Cannot Eat Our Cake and Have It

THE RISE OF WHEAT CONSUMPTION

A HISTORY OF WHEAT IMPORTATION