Afang Soup – Greatest of All Time(G.O.A.T)

Someone here calls himself the last Afang bender; if I ask him to come and prepare Afang soup for me, he will cook spirikoko, the type that oyibo use to cook that will cause the pot to bring out fire; obong-owo, mbok shift joor!

Nota Bene - I'm not stereotyping; but it's a truth that most men and women from Cross River and Akwa-Ibom have the 'Y / J Factor' intonation. You must read this piece with that perspective if you want to appreciate it.

There is Afang soup and then there is ‘Afang soup,’ this one is made by a proper Efik Uyai.

Let me tell you a lirru about the type of Afang soup that will make you desire to marry an Akwa-Ibom or Calabar woman. The type of Afang that I buy at mbukpa “yunktion” from Ekaette is Afang Ufok, the type that will make you want to eat 5 fufu at once.

When I buy that type of Afang for 1,000, I buy goat meat for 2,000, cowleg and soft kpomo for 1,900. Nya di dep (I will now buy) snail (big big one o) for 2500, mmomong ikong (waterleaf) 800, eporoko 700, dry fish 1000, obu (crayfish) 500, palm oil; one bottle, mmfi (periwinkle, the one that you do ”mmmmuumuummu’‘ to suck out the goodness, oh dah! e swid o!), fufu from Eka Akpan for 500 naira, and yellow pepper for 50 naira, because I don’t like too much pepper o.

When you’re on your way home in your keke, you’ll be singing praise and worship… ‘ikom kom kom kom, ikom kom

abasi ibom…’ because you are happy that God has provided you the money to buy Afang soup ingredients.

When I get home and finish washing all of my ingredients, I put my goat meat, cow leg, kpomo, snail, and eporoko in a pot, I season it with maggi, salt, and yellow pepper, I taste it to make sure that yes, the thing has entered well well.  I then cook it till e do, I don’t know how many minutes, when I look at it I just know it haf done. 

Don’t be tempted to say you want to taste small meat o, because when you taste one, you will taste like 5 before the food done, so say ‘get behind me oh thou spiritual entity, I will wait till the very end to eat my Afang soup’

I then put plenty palm oil inside the meat, then I put my mmfi (periwinkle), I cook it till it begins to bring out bubble, then I add my mmomong ikong (waterleaf) and plenty crayfish. After one minute, when I see bubble everywhere in the pot, I put the almighty Afang, followed by the dry fish and more crayfish, I turn it round and round till the Afang is seen everywhere in the pot. I cook it for small time because I don’t want to eat Afang that have die, so cook it small, let it remain fresh, I then bring it down from the pot after not more than two minutes.

The hour has come.

I dish my american wonder inside a big plate, I put 2 goat meat, one cowleg, one snail, and fish part, I then carry my 2 fufu. I don’t sit on the chair o, no no no, I sit on the ground, I make sure I carry handkerchief and keep it on one side because I am about to sweat it out.

When I cut the first fufu, I mold it and throw it in the air, when the fufu is coming down, I catch it, and nod my head because I am pleased with it. I dip the fufu in the soup and I eat it and the feeling is magnificent, I eat it gently and I eat it all because I deserve to be taken kia ruff.