The Premiere Nigerian Food Writers: Henrietta Olaitan Anthonio & Miriam Isoun

Challenged and annoyed by a 1965 article in the New York Times that condescended to, and reduced, ‘Black African cuisine’ as “an unedifying necessity,” Miriam Isoun paired up with Henrietta Olaitan Anthonio and committed to magnifying and celebrating the variety of Nigerian cuisine, both to Nigerians and the international scene. In their cookery book, Nigerian Cookbook (Macmillan, 1982), H. Olaitan spoke of the fear of Nigerian food preparation methods becoming extinct because they hadn’t been written down. So, these women wrote them down. 

It might be a generalization, but there is some truth to their assertion that many Nigerians return to the same meals over and over again. Jollof rice, egusi soup, fufu, beans. This cookbook acknowledges that this repetition can cause a listlessness, an unimaginativeness. In that way, this project was an invitation to fall back in love with Nigerian food and its ingredients. Because there are so many traditions and cultures mashed up in the country, they were not surprised to find a lot echoing between them. They did find many differences too. 

In this cookbook, ingredients were not neglected or sidelined. The authors were very detailed in their documentation of produce, known names, and methods of preparation. They aspired to show new and innovative ways of using the same well-known foods, to bring back long-forgotten recipes from ancestors, to show the complexity of our choices (e.g. how potash or agbono enrichens oil, rather than give greasiness), to remind readers of the importance food plays in culture. 

Henrietta Olaitan Anthonio learned catering from her mother, Henrietta Bolajoko Adeniyi (who was the senior matron of Queen’s College, Lagos in the 1940s). Miriam Isoun went on to be a research fellow, lecturer, and executive at an environmental organization. But with this book, they hoped to reach everyone from culinary students to homemakers. They invited greater contributions to the printed knowledge of Nigerian food. With Nigerian Cookbook still in discussion today, they wrote a one-of-a-kind repository of Nigerian practice and culture.