I gave out this topic just the way my husband would say it whenever he remembered how my mum always entertained him with soul food.
Not just him alone, but I'm also included. My late mum has been my best cook and the only one who can bring the true spirit of food into my marrow. She can make me feel at home and better anytime by eating her food.
My husband, on the other hand, has been troubling me since my mum was still alive to always travel home just because of my mum's food that can bring out the best joy in my husband. Anytime we were about to travel home, he would call my mom, telling her to get herself prepared for his arrival. Generally, I would ask him to explain clearly to my mum what he meant by “prepare for my arrival”, but instead would say, “Don't worry, your mum, my mother-in-law understands it clearly.
There was a day we left for the village from Lagos State. The journey from Lagos State to Delta State is not a joking matter. On our way, my husband had to ask, “What are we going to buy? I'm the type who doesn't eat along the road, especially when traveling. I never answered him, but then I was seriously hungry. He also said to me, he was hungry, and he needed to eat something. My reply was not in his favor. I said, “The food we have here is not tasty and can never match up with what we would eat when we get home”. This was the only way to trick him from eating along the road.
The hunger kept increasing more and more to the extent of no longer replying to my husband. At some points, I perceived a fine aroma and this got me salivating. I gazed at my husband with a different look, not knowing he had perceived the same aroma. My stomach began to turn, and I was singing some kind of special song with the worms inside my belly.
We continued our journey, and we got home some minutes past 5. I only pitied the small boy we took along. Although, I bought him snacks and Fanta.
When we got home, the very first thing my husband had to ask for was food. Even the aroma touched my spirit, and my belly was rolling, ready to feel the soul food my mum had prepared for us.
She served the food, and to my surprise, it was my favorite I love starch and Banga (palm fruit) soup. It can go with the starch so well.
The secret of “my mother-in-law understands it all” is all about the soul food my mom always prepares for him anytime he goes home.
The only food I also call soil food is my mother-in-law’s food. She can prepare it to my taste whenever she knows we are coming.
The following day, we traveled to my mother-in-law's house, and to my surprise, she had prepared seriously for us. I was not expecting what she prepared, although that's her nature. She doesn't joke with her only son, my husband. She knew the food that could make her son feel better. Likewise, she prepared Ogbono soup and Fufu (made from cassava). This is my husband's favorite and I also love this food as well. It brings the soul of my husband into a calm situation.
The next day, when we were leaving for my mom's abode, I had to enter the kitchen to prepare my mother-in-law some food. She was so happy seeing me prepare food for her. Although, it's our culture for a daughter-in-law to prepare food for her husband's family. That's what I did.
It was just as if we should not return to Lagos, as we were busy enjoying food that kept us happy. It was there that I concluded that a mother's food is a soul food and food that no one would ever forget.
the images are taken by me