Back in the days, every child looked forward to attending a Boarding Secondary School. The thought of leaving home to a new environment gave an exciting feeling. To this effect, they tried their very best to pass the entrance examination. Attending a boarding school introduces the average Nigerian child to an independent life, diverse culture and increased social quotient. Life in the dormitory is a sweet-bitter ride, and we can’t wait to share them with you. Let’s start with food. Many times, the meals shared at the school dining halls doesn’t go down well in the stomach. It’s either tasteless, watery or unhygienically prepared; so, you have to rely on provisions and contraband (extra foodstuff not allowed by the school authorities) to sustain you while at school. Indeed, life there was a survival of the fittest. If you are not strong enough, you may fall sick often as a result of the stress and the food. By now, you may be curious to know those weird meals. Fasten your seat belt and get a chilled glass of wine with some Tiger Cinnamon-spiced Chin-Chin for some juicy gist.
Soaked Noodles
Since it is prohibited to cook in the boarding house, you only eat whatever you are served at the dining hall. Afterwards, you lean on provisions (milk, choco powder, corn flakes, sugar etc) to combat hunger. Noodles is one of the contrabands not allowed by the school authorities but trust students to find a means to smuggle them in. When hunger set in, they soak the noodles in water to soften it and then garnish with seasoning and sardine. This concoction is eaten with maximum satisfaction. If you have had this combo before, can you imagine eating this again?
Garri Cake
Boarding house students would usually make Garri cake to celebrate their birthdays in the dormitory. If you didn’t attend boarding house, this will sound strange to you…lol. This cake is a combination of Garri, Sugar, Chocolate, Sugar and Butter for coating. Indeed, it tastes good, though the cake is rock hard and cold. No one deserves a cold meal. Nevertheless, these teens looked forward to eating Garri cake on their special days at school with great joy.
Abacha (Tapioca)
This one is a no-go area. It is also contraband in boarding school. Yet, it didn't stop students from smuggling it in. To make this meal, they soak the tapioca in water and wait till it softens, then add palm oil, crayfish and pepper before eating it. If you didn't smuggle Abacha to school, then you must be an Ajebutter… lol
Soaked Oat
Surprised right? Yes! Imagine eating uncooked Oats. This, they make by soaking oats in water for a long time and then add sugar and milk😲voila! food is ready. If this meal didn’t upset your stomach, we doubt if anything would happen to it now. They say it’s yummier than corn flakes. Anyways, as adults, we dare not eat uncooked oats served cold.
Sardine and Eba
This is the Grand-Mother of them all. Imagine combining sardine, palm oil and dry pepper to form a soup for cold Eba. The cold eba is made by soaking garri in water for it to rise and thicken and then mould to substitute for swallow. This combo tasted good back then but believe me, your stomach won't accept anything like that ever again.
In recent times, the weird food combos may not be so common as schools are more stringent with rules and pay attention to feeding kids right. It's alright if you can't relate to any of these, it simply means you didn't attend a Boarding School in the 90s and early 2000's Did you attend boarding school? Tell us that weird meal you ate back then that you will never eat again if given the chance to. We can't wait to read them.
Thank you for stopping by.