Welcome to the newsletter for people who love to eat, drink and travel. Every Thursday, by 3 pm, you’ll receive the tastiest stories from Africa’s dining tables. Forward to someone!
Welcome to today’s edition of the newsletter you actually open, the Deliciously Newsletter. I’ll skip all the other pleasantries to ask one very important question: why na our turn?
If you’re reading this newsletter, you’re likely a young person who just started buying foodstuff for themselves recently. You are also part of the demographic that left their parents’ house because you wanted to become independent. Some of you (including myself) made the insanely brave decision to get married, and now, we have to buy foodstuff ourselves. Then boom, a pack of spaghetti suddenly costs 800 Naira.
I ask again, why na our turn?
Immediately after my Call to the Bar ceremony, I moved in with my aunty in Abuja. I used to be the one charged with the responsibility of filling the gas. I bought gas for 350 Naira per KG, spending around 4000 Naira to fill a 12kg gas cylinder. Sometime in 2021, I moved to my own place as an independent young man with a girlfriend with whom I needed some privacy. After going through the heartbreak of buying curtains for like 1 billion Naira, I figured I needed to fill my 12kg gas cylinder. How much did it cost me? 8000 Naira, double what my aunty used to spend to buy hers. Why na my turn?
When I was in university and used to depend on my parents for pocket money, a pack of spaghetti used to cost 120 Naira, now I have become a working-class adult earning his own money and buying food for himself and all of a sudden, spaghetti costs 800 Naira.
Incensed by the criminal injustice of everything tripling in price, I put out a post asking people to tell us their food price shock stories, and the responses have been overwhelmingly disturbing.
Here are some of the responses.
Oluwayinka Aiki:
“My protein and creatine powder for exercising. Used to get it for 28k last year, now, it’s 50k, same size.”
Inikpi Joy Aduku:
I bought a crate of egg 3700 on Tuesday. While they were packing it, I couldn’t help remembering when I used to buy this same crate for 1100, and that was just some few years ago. Water almost ran down my eyes.”
Queenette Ocheze Charles:
A carton of Super pack indomie I used to buy #2,500 while I was in school, is now 10k. A paint of beans I used to buy #700 in school, is now 4k. A paint of garri used to be about #250 – #300 is now #1,700. The list is endless.
…And for those of you who are seriously planning to procreate, here’s one for you:
Grace Chibueze-Okere:
Heinz Cereal that I bought #2500 for Chiamara is now #8600 for Kay. Chiamara’s Frisco gold went from 2800 to 4800, these are cereals consumed daily, let me not go to milk etc.”
Juliet Chioma Odika:
It’s my daughter’s provision that breaks my heart the most and she is a picky eater. I ran from Cerelac a long time ago. But Nutribom, today 1500, tomorrow 1700 and it lasts for just a few days. Peak123 price is rising like dough, Peak Full Cream is just as expensive. God Abeg oooo. An adult can soak Garri which also no longer cheap but what to do about children 😫😫😫😫
The list goes on and on because the post had garnered over 200 comments in just one hour at the time of writing this. That thread has taught me that if you’re ever in a space where you need to start a conversation with someone random, all you have to do is complain about the rising cost of food in Nigeria. I assure you that you will bond over a mutually shared misery for the next few hours.
However, as your ever-helpful guide to improving your quality of living, I have itemised ways in which you can wade through this food inflation without getting too affected by the rising cost of food.
- Become religious and take fasting seriously: If you fast for a couple of quarters in the year and add some prayers to it, you can save some money on food while getting closer to God at the same time.
- Remain in your father’s house: Stay put if you’ve not already moved out. If you have already moved out but are not married, it’s not too late to return to your parents’ house. Na them born you. Return the burden of feeding you to them.
- Move in with your partner: Whether you’re a man or a woman reading this, just have to put the burden of feeding yourself on someone else. It’s bad, but still, better a bad person than a broke person.
- Fitfam: Lose some weight. No matter how skinny you are, it’s never too late to lose more weight.
- Hunger Strike: Start a protest about an important social issue and then go on a hunger strike. You’ll be hungry, but at least you’ll be a hero by the masses, so the hunger is not wasted.
As we conclude today’s newsletter issue, please remember that this is actually a severe social problem, regardless of the humour infused in this piece. Let’s spare a thought for the families significantly affected by the food crisis. A little help can go a long way.
Till we meet again this time next week, c’est la vie!
