On the 31st of December 2021, Bibian boarded the Qatar Airways flight to London to pursue a Master’s degree program in Applied Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics at the University of Bradford, England. She had lived in Nigeria all her life, and her culinary experience had been limited strictly to Nigerian meals.
While she boarded that flight to the United Kingdom, she knew she would have to adapt to a more British lifestyle, which would naturally include British food. What she did not know at the time was that in about a year, while she ascended through the ranks in her career, she would be sharing this culinary experience with the love of her life, Corky, a British man who also had a very British palette.
In the past year, Bibian and Corky have experimented with new recipes and helped each other learn about their traditional cuisines, discover new meals from each other’s cultures, and love themselves through them.
As with everyone who finds themselves in a new country without the cosy warmth of intimacy, Bibian, after realising that there was more to life than just studying and watching romcoms on Prime, downloaded Bumble.
She must have gone through the customary torture of many dead-end prospects until she came across Corky, with whom she clicked immediately and planned a date. Oh, before the date, they had planned a getaway, and then they came to the genius realisation that going on a getaway with a Bumble match wasn’t such a great idea.
“We needed to confirm one of us wasn’t a serial killer”, she told me over the phone. (It would have made for a great movie plot if they were both actually serial killers. Yunno, Mr & Mrs Freddie).
After getting familiar with each other for a couple of weeks, they eventually met at Mi Chaii, a South Asian coffee shop close to Bibian’s home in Bradford. Details are sketchy on what exactly transpired on that date, but it’s clear that it was enough to earn Corky a second date at Bibian’s, where she made him Spaghetti Bolognese.
That date kickstarted a full-blown relationship that has become very much intertwined with food experiences and cultural exchanges, helping both partners discover new, thrilling cuisines that have added more spice to their relationship and palates.
Both partners agree Bibian is the better cook in the relationship, and like every true Nigerian, she has not hesitated to introduce Corky to her repertoire of Nigerian dishes.
“I have introduced him to almost all the local dishes that I could find the ingredients to make here. He’s enjoyed quite a few of them. He’s enjoyed Egusi soup, groundnut soup, dry okra soup, and fish pepper soup—apart from the fact that there’s bone in it, he quite enjoyed that. I’ve also introduced him to Jollof rice, beef stew, coconut rice, and the rest of those.”
Having had a few European friends I’ve tried to induct into Nigerian cuisine myself, I’ve quickly found out how much they struggle with how spicy our meals are. Corky is, however, not one such British. He tells me a story of how Bibian had cooked spicy noodles and was sniffing and sweating while he enjoyed the meal with relish. Bibian confesses that Corky does much better with spice than she does, embarrassing her Nigerian ancestors with this admission.
Corky has also introduced Bibian to typical English dishes. “He’s introduced me to, apart from full English breakfast, I think, the Sunday roast. Yeah, which is like a large piece of meat, which could be pork or beef, but we’ve never done it with chicken. It comes with carrots, parsnips, there could be corn sometimes, sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, usually roasted in beef drippings, and you’d make really nice gravy to top it all up.”
Though Bibian is considered the better cook, Corky also pulls his weight in the kitchen. Bibian particularly cherishes his steak, a revelation in beef preparation for a Nigerian. In Nigeria, beef is typically cut into small pieces, boiled for thorough cooking (as if to make sure it’s completely dead), and then deep-fried. Corky’s medium-rare steak offered a whole new experience of the flavour and texture beef could offer.
On their first anniversary, he made her an anniversary dinner: Sirloin steak, potato dauphinois, and tenderstem broccoli.
“If we weren’t already dating, I’d ask him out after this meal”, Bibian wrote on her Facebook page.
Corky, in turn, reveals his fondness for Bibian’s spicy Nigerian egg sauce, stating that Bibian preparing the meal sometimes causes him to dance in the excitement of anticipation. On the difference between Nigerian egg sauce and British egg sauce, Corky remarks, “Well, there are no spices in our British version,” a statement that almost serves as an indictment on every facet of British culture.
When Corky says his favourite Nigerian dish is suya, Bibian corrects him, noting that suya is more of a snack than a full-course meal. He then settles on jollof rice as his favourite (Someone, please remind me to write an article about this some other time). On Corky’s love for food, Bibian remarks about how much she loves to cook for him.
“It’s really nice making meals for him because watching him eat is like the highlight of the cooking experience. He enjoys the meals in a way that makes you want to say, ‘Yeah, I should make something else for him.’”
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On Valentine’s Day, they visited an African/Continental restaurant where Corky had sugarcane-ginger juice (for the first time) and Bibian had fisherman soup.
Answering the question of how much food means to their relationship, Bibian laughs and says, “If this guy is ever going to propose to me, as in ask me to marry him, he’s probably going to do so after we just finished eating a meal”.
Experience the love story of Bibian and Corky on their delightful Facebook page Corky & Bee.
