Keywords
Udong, mortar and pestle, cultural identity
Document Type
Essay
Description
Kpom! Kpom! Kpom!: The familiar majestic sound that my mother’s grand wooden mortar and pestle communicate to each other. They recognize their status as the most important utensils in her Nigerian kitchen and chatter away oblivious to the red splatter of scotch bonnet peppers between them. I hold the pestle timidly, but tightly in my hands. My ten-year-old biceps cannot understand the synchrony between the pestle and the mortar. The gliding yet forceful motion only evokes a sense of inferiority in me. Together, they have a mind of their own and work so majestically. I am but a spectator. My mother told my siblings and I severally the story of how she had been gifted these hardwood objects over fourteen years ago. I am baffled when I think about the swoosh of lace wedding gift ribbons against a rough wooden vessel. She looked at it with admiration, as if it was the final seal on her marriage certificate. In the old days–long before my grandmother could balance on her infantile legs–cooking good food was equated with ethereal virtues. The mortar and pestle were so important because they spearheaded a cabal that only recruited the most exquisite food ingredients. Those whose kitchens the mortar and pestles majestically graced always enjoyed its spellbinding essence in their meals. This wooden contraption was the birthplace of power in the kitchen.
Recommended Citation
Ekpo, Idongesit
(2020)
"Udong,"
Inscape: Vol. 40:
No.
1, Article 6.
Available at:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/inscape/vol40/iss1/6