Citation: Sani, A-U. & Umar, H.A. (2022). Cimakar Hausawa. Kano: WT Press. ISBN: 978-978-984-562-9.
The book “Cimakar Bahaushe” (Diets of the Hausa People) is a collection of 293 traditional and modern diets of the Hausa people. Detailed explanations of the recipes and ingredients are provided. Comments are provided on the areas of the Hausa land where specific diets are mostly found, the age categories of people that usually use it, as well as the scientific impact of some of the diets to human biology.
Data is collected from interviews with different categories of people including:
i. Food sellers within the Hausa land: Mainly to have an idea of recipes on the diets.
ii. People of older age: Mainly to have insights on traditional diets of the Hausas.
iii. Hausa scholars: Mainly to verify and justify the validity of the information obtained as well as provide further expert explanations on the diets.
Moreover, over two hundred (200) pieces of literature were reviewed to have better insight on the topic in question as well as get scientific and professional clarifications on some key concepts relevant to the research. The pieces of literature cover major relevant phenomena such as diet and hunger. Others are on the Hausa land and the Hausas.
The book contains thirty-three (33) chapters. Chapter one is the main introduction in which a concise explanation is provided on the Hausas, their history, their land, social life, and transformations due to globalization, acculturation, and modernity. Chapter two detailly discusses the concepts of diet and food from the Hausa point of view. That includes the meaning and the usage of diets in some Hausa works of literature both verbal and written (i.e. prose, poetry, proverbs, etc.).
Chapters three and four discuss the sources of Hausa diets and their forms accordingly. Chapters five to seventeen discuss some traditional Hausa diets including hard and soft ones. Chapter eighteen concentrates on the influence of modernity and globalization on Hausa diets. It has been discovered that there have been some significant changes in the Hausa diets ranging from recipes to kitchenettes.
Chapters nineteen to thirty-two discuss modern Hausa diets. Some traditional diets are still retained with little modifications, while on the other hand, there are a lot of new ones. Chapter thirty-three discusses “hunger” from the Hausa point of view. The relationship between hunger and food is examined. Additionally, the use of hunger in various Hausa literary works is studied. It is concluded that hunger is like a disease whereby its cure is food.
7th November 2022