Washing up must be done immediately after each meal and is easiest done in a large enamel basin which you can get quite cheaply at the Niger Co. It is as well to buy three of these basins, one large one for washing up, one smaller one for the cook and one spare one. See that the boy uses hot water, and that he washes the glasses first, then the knives, forks and spoons, and lastly the plates. The knives should never be left lying in the water or the handles crack. It is very difficult to induce a boy to use sufficient water for washing up ; he seems to consider it less trouble to wash everything in a pudding basin. As soon as he has finished, the teacloths should be hung up to dry. Serving at table is one of the things a boy will often take pride in. Allow ‘him a nice riga and encourage him to make the table look as nice as possible even in the bush. 20 NATIVE PRODUCTS. On first arriving in Nigeria, it would seem as if meat, fowls and eggs represented the whole extent of local resources. A few months in the country will show you that much else can be obtained but it must always be asked for. The native will never bring anything to the white man on his own initiative, not from any ill-feeling, but because he thinks it “ no be fit for white man.” The Accra cook will, of course, especially affect to despise anything native ! You must show that you know what the local products are and when they can be had, and if you insist sufficiently, they will soon be obtained. For the assistance of the newcomer, we give what we fear is a quite incomplete and sometimes inaccurate list of native grains and vegetables, and the best ways of using them. We include remarks on native milk, butter, etc., etc. ; meat and poultry will be treated separately at the head of the various chapters in which they are dealt with. WHEAT (alkama). — Especially grown in the north, but found in Bauchi and around Wase. Makes excellent bread on condition that it is carefully ground and kept free from the dust of the Harmattan. The bread can be made wholly from Alkama flour, or mixed with an equal quantity of European flour. It makes, also, delicious pancakes. If one is certain of going to a province where wheat is easily obtainable, it would be worth while to take out a small handmill and to make all one’s bread with Alkama flour, thus greatly reducing the bulk of one’s European stores. GUINEA COEN (dawa). — The flour can be used for making porridge. A taste for it can be acquired in time. 21 MAIZE (massara). — Exoellent for porridge and for scones, either ground to flour or slightly broken. It is best not to buy the maize ready ground on the market but to arrange with one of your boy’s wives that she should herself grind or break it for you, paying her a little over the ordinary market price on condition that it is free from grit and dust. You thus make sure of having the flour fresh and fairly clean. The handmill advised for grinding the wheat could also be used for the maize.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Washing up must be done immediately after each meal and is easiest done in a large enamel basin which you can get quite cheaply at the Niger Co. It is as well to buy three of these basins, one large one for washing up, one smaller one for the cook and one spare one. See that the boy uses hot water, and that he washes the glasses first, then the knives, forks and spoons, and lastly the plates. The knives should never be left lying in the water or the handles crack. It is very difficult to induce a boy to use sufficient water for washing up ; he seems to consider it less trouble to wash everything in a pudding basin. As soon as he has finished, the teacloths should be hung up to dry. Serving at table is one of the things a boy will often take pride in. Allow him a nice riga and encourage him to make the table look as nice as possible even in the bush. NATIVE PRODUCTS. On first arriving in Nigeria, it would seem as if meat, fowls and eggs represented the whole extent of local resources. A few months in the country will show you that much else can be obtained but it must always be asked for. The native will never bring anything to the white man on his own initiative, not from any ill-feeling, but because he thinks it “ no be fit for white man.” The Accra cook will, of course, especially affect to despise anything native ! You must show that you know what the local products are and when they can be had, and if you insist sufficiently, they will soon be obtained. For the assistance of the newcomer, we give what we fear is a quite incomplete and sometimes inaccurate list of native grains and vegetables, and the best ways of using them. We include remarks on native milk, butter, etc., etc. ; meat and poultry will be treated separately at the head of the various chapters in which they are dealt with. WHEAT (alkama). — Especially grown in the north, but found in Bauchi and around Wase. Makes excellent bread on condition that it is carefully ground and kept free from the dust of the Harmattan. The bread can be made wholly from Alkama flour, or mixed with an equal quantity of European flour. It makes, also, delicious pancakes. If one is certain of going to a province where wheat is easily obtainable, it would be worth while to take out a small handmill and to make all one’s bread with Alkama flour, thus greatly reducing the bulk of one’s European stores. GUINEA COEN (dawa). — The flour can be used for making porridge. A taste for it can be acquired in time. MAIZE (massara). — Exoellent for porridge and for scones, either ground to flour or slightly broken. It is best not to buy the maize ready ground on the market but to arrange with one of your boy’s wives that she should herself grind or break it for you, paying her a little over the ordinary market price on condition that it is free from grit and dust. You thus make sure of having the flour fresh and fairly clean. The handmill advised for grinding the wheat could also be used for the maize.

Practical West African cookery