I hate fufu for 3 reasons and we should all ban it

Nigeria has a great variety of dishes. Most common of them is the different kinds of swallows enjoyed with different kinds of soups.

These swallows include the likes of amala, eba, semo, starch, pounded yam, etc., which are greatly enjoyed across the country. And then, there is fufu.

Fufu, also called akpu, is made from fermented cassava and here are the reasons why I think this particular swallow should be banned;

The smell

I'll never understand how people can eat something that smells like fufu and then even enjoy it. It is common knowledge that a food's aroma should be one part that invites you to eat, nothing about the smell of fufu is inviting.

The worst part is, the smell lingers on your palm if you do not wash it properly.

Risk of poisoning

Eating fufu actually comes with good nutritional value as it is rich in protein, fat, carbohydrates, potassium and low in cholesterol. There's no denying that.

However, the cassava which fufu is made from has a toxic chemical called linamarin. Sometimes, boiling doesn't change the state of this chemical and this could make your fufu harmful.

There are also instances where under-processed fufu may contain cyanide which hasn't yet been reduced to a less toxic state and can be harmful to even those carrying out the processing of fufu.

It doesn't digest easily

There are foods like rice that take less than an hour to break down in the body. But this swallow called fufu takes more than six hours to do the same. This just keeps you full for a long time and most likely you will have less energy to do any other activity.

As earlier mentioned, there's no argument that fufu is actually a healthy meal that comes with many benefits, and even the slow rate digestion may be a good thing as that could support weight loss and blood sugar control.

But then, in Nigeria, there are already great swallows that are equally healthy, we definitely can all do without fufu on the menu.