“I have to wake up by 4:30, every morning, to cook and get myself and my younger ones ready for school,” Lola said. I looked at her in disbelief, and to confirm that I heard right, I asked, “so you made this food?” Referring to her lunch. She laughed and replied “yes na. I cooked it myself.” I couldn’t help but wonder if her mom was late or if she lived with her step mom, cos why else would a fifteen year old be dealing with so much responsibility already? So I voiced out my thought and asked “what of your mummy?” Again, she laughed and was probably wondering what kind of ridiculous question that was, and still laughing she said “my mother cannot be waking up to cook for me na.” “Wow!” I exclaimed in my head, while trying to process the information.
I later discovered that out of the few that still carried lunch to school, in my class, I was probably the only one who didn’t make the food herself. I also found out that some had been doing that since junior school (imagine my shock).
At that age, I was still struggling to make proper Eba, without koko — trust me, this was a very difficult time in my life. I couldn’t even cut onions into thin slices. Slicing leafy vegetables was totally out of it. I hardly ever cooked beans to be soft enough, to not cause heartburns. Well, my white rice game was fair enough. I could make stew, though a few times, I never let the salt be great. And I only cooked during holidays and occasionally on weekends.
Now you see why I thought cooking regularly for your family at that age was strange. I mean, I could not even prepare custard or pap without cooking it on fire, after pouring hot water into the mix —Making it without koko was a big struggle, I always needed to say a few Hail Marys for that.
Despite my obviously poor culinary skill, my mum never failed to commend my effort. She’d tell me I did better than she expected, that I really tried and with time, and more practice, I’d be a pro. She sometimes told me my food would have tasted better than her’s, if only I had added a little more salt. This helped my confidence, she left me convinced that I had her very good culinary skills in my genes. She told me I was a natural at it. And guess what, she didn’t lie, all I needed was practice.
I started cooking properly, at seventeen. I made mistakes, and learnt from them.
The first time I cooked soup, it was Egusi soup, and it was for over fifteen people. It was a very funny experience, I remember fidgeting around the kitchen and wanting my mummy to be there so bad. A lot of things ran through my head; is this how I’m going to shame my mother, after all the home training and love put into raising me?
I could have written an essay of not less than 5,000 words, ending with ‘had I known’, in that moment —Had I known, I’d have listened to my mother, all those times she asked me to sit and watch her cook. I shouldn’t have let my coconut head win. I wished I didn’t argue that I didn’t need to watch a second time, to know how to prepare a meal. I shouldn’t have given her the condition that I’d stay in the kitchen only if she lets me do the cooking. But it was too late.
My God! What was I even thinking when I agreed to be a volunteer? Did I think I was going to cook just stew, rice and pasta?
I tried calling my mum for help, but there was no signal cos I was in a village… To Be Continued.
Watch out for my next post, to find out if it ended in premium tears. You can also subscribe to my blog to get notifications. You certainly would not want to miss the follow-up post— just do it, subscribe now.
Can’t wait! This is hilarious.😂 I hope we’ll have a good laugh in the next episode though because all the suspense cannot now be happy ending.
😂 Thank you, Adesewa. You’ll find out, soon.
I actually need to know how it ends but my first cooking experience was in school, lol. Old things have passed away behold I can’t still cook. But if I boil water for you omooo you go lick cup.
Sonia are you a ghost or thief why post in the midnight? Nice piece by the way.
😂😂😂 I am both. Thank you, Samuel. And I’d love to taste water, boiled by you. I’m salivating already.
Aswear this is just me. I started cooking at SSS3 also. My mum vexed and left us to it as we were becoming spoilt. 😂
😂😂😂 Oh wow. Good to see I wasn’t the only ‘spoilt child.’
I can totally relate, I started making some meals after secondary school… Next episode, please
😂😂😂 Coming through, Lilian.
Wahala, please drop the next episode already, by the way I think I’m in Lola’s shoes here.
😂 Oh wow! I don’t envy you. Don’t worry, I’ll drop it soon.
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