2020 Yoruba Day Celebration: Ounje Ile Yoruba

The Yoruba people are one of the largest African ethnic groups and are made up of a collection of diverse people who are connected through a shared history, culture, and language. Within Nigeria, the Yoruba dominate the western part of the country (Delta, Edo, Ekiti, Kwara, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, and Ogun States) . The number of speakers of Yoruba is approximately 30 million. It is a pluricentric language spoken principally in Benin and Nigeria

Yoruba people traditionally speak the Yorùbá language, a member of the Niger–Congo language family. Apart from referring to the aggregate of dialects and their speakers, the term Yoruba is used for the standard, written form of the language.

Some common foods native to the Yoruba include moin-moin (steamed bean pudding) and akara (bean cake). Native Yoruba soups include ewedu, gbegiri (which is made from beans), and efo riro (a type of vegetable soup). Such soups as okra (locally known as ila alasepo) and egusi (melon soup) have become very popular in Western Nigeria in recent times and, in addition to Amala (yam flour), a traditional Yoruba fufu made of yam flour, these can be eaten with numerous Nigerian fufu meals, including pounded yam (locally referred to as iyan); lafun, a Nigeria fufu made from cassava; semolina; and garri (eba). Some dishes are prepared specially for festivities and ceremonies. Jollof rice, fried rice and Ofada rice very common in Nigeria (especially in the southwest region, which includes Lagos). Other popular dishes include Asaro, Efokore, Ekuru and Aro, stews, corn, cassava, and flours (such as maize, yam and plantain flours), eggs, chicken, and assorted meat and fish). Some less well known meals and many miscellaneous staples are arrowroot gruel, sweetmeats, fritters and coconut concoctions; and some breads such as yeast bread, rock buns, and palm wine bread. Yoruba cuisine is quite vast and often includes plantains which can be boiled, fried and roasted.