Aleri cuisine

Aleri cuisine is influenced by Alero's interactions and exchanges with other cultures and nations over the centuries. It is characterized by a wealth derived both from land and sea products. Conquests and demographic movement into Aleri territory were two of the main factors of exchanges between different peoples and cultures (Khadrami, Bidu, Wedu, etc.) historically.

The cuisine of Alero offers a variety of dishes depending on the region and season, but it characteristically consists of vegetables or legumes and often very spicy meat dishes. This is usually in the form of nipọn, a thick stew, served on top of agbo, a kind of flatbread made using teff or maize meal. Aleris eat mostly with their hands, using pieces of nipọn to pick up bites of entrees and side dishes.

The Aleri faith prescribes a certain number of fasting periods each year. Per tradition, the faithful must abstain from any and all animal products (including dairy and eggs) during these fasts; Aleri cuisine therefore contains many dishes that are vegan.

Overview
A typical dish consists of agbo accompanied by a stew, which frequently includes goat, lamb, fish, vegetables, and various types of legumes, such as beans or lentils. Gbogbo, a combination of powdered chili pepper, cardamom, fenugreek, coriander, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, cumin, and allspice, is an important ingredient used to add flavor to countless Aleri dishes. Another essential is kuro, a clarified butter infused with ginger, garlic, and several other spices. Adikala is a powdered seasoning mix used in Aleri cuisine. It has a red-orange color and contains ground chilis, cardamom, cloves, and salt, and often includes cinnamon, cumin, and ground ginger.

Vegetables that are commonly used include potatoes, carrots, onions, tomatoes, garlic, okra, cabbage, peanuts, beans, lentils, chickpeas, and lentils. These ingredients are often used in stews and soups, or are simply fried or boiled and served on the side. The primary cereals include sorghum, teff, millet, and maize, used for making agbo flatbreads, porridges, and other dishes.

In their strict adherence to fasting, Aleri cooks have developed a wide array of cooking oil sources-besides sesame and sunflower-for use as a substitute for animal fats, which are forbidden during fasting periods. Aleri cuisine also uses inga seed oils in many dishes.

Eating habits
Aleris consider a healthy breakfast to be very important. They generally prefer to drink tea or coffee with breakfast, although food preferences vary regionally. Coastal people prefer agbo, some kind of stew or porridge, and a vegetable dish. Vegetables eaten at breakfast are often pickled; various types of packaged pickles are sold across Alero marketed as breakfast foods. Likewise, peoples from inland regions prefer joko (a fermented batter made from legumes and steamed) accompanied with curd and milk.

Traditional lunch in Alero usually consists of a light meal, including agbo, two or three kinds of vegetables, and some kind of stew or soup. Fish or fowl is commonly eaten at lunch, seen as being preferable to fattier red meats. Ibsun (spiced, stuffed, and folded betel leaves) is commonly consumed as an after-meal digestive across Alero. One popular lunch meal for Aleris on the go is apo, a semicircular pocket of dough filled with mashed chickpeas, fried onions, and spices.

Aleri families often get together for an evening snack time, called aga-aga (similar to tea time in other cultures) to talk and enjoy tea and snacks.

Dinner is considered the main meal of the day. It is then that the thickest soups and stews are served, along with roasted meats and vegetables. As work is forbidden on certain holy days, Aleris have developed many slow-cooked foods that can simmer on a low flame overnight and be ready for eating the next day. The most popular of these dishes is gbona, a stew containing meat, beans, potatoes, wheat kernels, chickpeas, and eggs, along with the seasoning blend of the cook's choice. The stew is commonly served with pickled lemons as a garnish.

Many households prefer to finish dinner with a course of sweets. Most Aleri dessert menus consist of various porridges and puddings, but some pastries are commonly made. Okuta is a diamond-shaped cookie filled with dates and nut paste of some kind, commonly almonds or peanuts. Peanuts are commonly utilized in Aleri desserts; eruku is a peanut candy made of ground peanuts, maize flour, sugar, and salt. Ẹsẹ is another made using peanuts and cane syrup.

Etiquette
Traditionally, meals in Alero are eaten while seated either on the floor, or on low stools or mattresses. Food is generally eaten with hands rather than cutlery. Often, agbo is used to scoop the entree without allowing it to directly touch the hand. For coastal Aleris, a piece of agbo is gripped with the thumb and middle finger and ripped off while holding it down with the index finger. Inland Aleris, on the other hand, press the middle finger down to hold the bread and the forefinger and thumb to grip and separate a small part. This almost unconscious choice is often used by Aleris to identify an individual's place of origin within the country.

When dining at home with family (primarily for dinner but also breakfast occasionally), Aleris generally eat family-style. This means that dishes are placed in the center of the table, with everyone helping themselves to some of each dish. Manners surrounding who may eat before whom are one of the key aspects of the Aleri system of Otigbo, or customary social manners.

Dishes
Ipẹtẹ pupa begins with a large amount of chopped red onion, which is simmered or sauteed in a pot. Once the onions have softened, spiced butter or vegetable oil is added, then followed by a spice blend of the cook's choice. Meat such as goat, lamb, chicken, or fish is also added. Legumes such as split peas, lentils, and beans, or vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, and cabbage are also used.

Meat along with vegetables are sauteed to make ipari. Ipari is served in a variety of manners, and can range from hot to mild or contain little to no vegetables. There are many variations of the dish, depending on type, size or shape of the cuts of meat used. Goat or mutton are the most common meats used. Ipari is traditionally prepared to pay a particular compliment or show special respect to someone. Today, it is often prepared to commemorate special events and holidays.

Ibi, a stew made from peanuts, tomatoes, and onions as the base, can be infinitely varied with chicken, goat, or fish and different leafy vegetables for subtle flavors. Popular thickening agents in Aleri cuisine include ground pumpkin seed, ground yam, maize flour, and other similar ingredients. One dish know throughout Alero are Abuda bean dumplings, originally made for hard times but now enjoyed in times of record plenty.

Traditional alcoholic beverages
Oyin is a potent honey wine, not unlike mead. It is frequently served in bars, particularly in "oyin houses." The beverage is prepared from honey and buckthorn. It has a sweet taste and relatively high alcohol content. It can be stored for a long time; the longer it is stored, the stronger it becomes.

Ikun is an even stronger beverage, a kind of rotgut that is popular in certain northern stretches of the country. It is a home-distilled spirit that is normally filtered through charcoal to remove any off flavors. The beverage is also often flavored by infusion with various plants (garlic is a favorite).

Sofun is a kind of beer that is commonly available across Alero, as well as being made at home. It can be brewed with millet, sorghum, or maize, and buckthorn for fermentation purposes. Sofun has a low alcohol content, but is generally considered the default hard beverage in Alero.

Non-alcoholic beverages
Tea and coffee are both very popular in Alero, although the former is more so than the latter. Tea is consumed throughout the country in its various forms, be it black, green, red, white, etc. Coffee, on the other hand, is generally only drunk in the populated coastal centers. Coffee was first introduced to Alero by trade from the east, and therefore came to the country much later than tea did.

Another popular hot drink is rara. Rara is a barley and oat flour based drink cooked with water, sugar, and spiced clarified butter until all of the ingredients have come together to make a single, thick, creamy consistency. The drink is commonly given to nursing women, but its smoothness and sweetness make it a popular comfort drink for anyone who enjoys its flavors.

Ginger beer is very popular throughout Alero as well, particularly with those seeking a non-alcoholic option in social gatherings.

Bread
According to Aleri cultural tradition, bread is said to contain blessings from the divine, called akoko. It is traditionally seen as a symbol of life and functions in rituals symbolic of life, fertility, and abundance. While the agbo flatbread is considered to be the standard for bread in Alero, countless other types exist and can be found.

Dar is a kind of bread consisting of wheat flour, water, salt, and yeast. Traditionally it is flat and round, a few centimeters thick, and baked in a gas oven. Matu is another bread made from wheat semolina, yeast, water, and salt. Matu is a flattened pan-bread baked in a previously heated piece of earthenware of cast iron plate on a fire. Variations are made by the quality of the leavening agent, by adding barley or sorghum, or by making it maize meal-based. Kub is made from a well-kneaded, unleavened dough, baked for half a minute on a sheet of brass or iron balanced on stones over a fire. This method is used by the itinerant inland populations most commonly.