onila: these soups are eaten by all Nigerian tribes
but who owns them?

we all know ukazi=igbo. .ewedu -yoruba
afang, edidkaiking =efik, ibibio

but who owns okro, ogbono, egusi, white soup etc

ondo_boi: okro & egusi = yoruba
ogbona & white soup (nsala) =igbo

bokohalal: Nigerians are very funny.
Egusi and okro are not the names many Nigerian natives call it. That it is popularly called by a particular name used by a certain people does not mean they own it. Who owns the name is different from who owns the soup.

bigfrancis021:

This is where you got it all wrong. The origin of a name or word also has an attendant object/thing attached to it. It didn't just pop out of no where. Names such as Michael, Andrew, Jakes etc are all English names. Just because these names are popular in usage among Nigerians and africans worldwide doesn't suddenly change their origin from English to African.

Egwusi/Ogbono/Ora/Okwuru are as Igbo as Emeka or Ifeanyi. Its just like someone coming out tomorrow to doubt the origin of 'Obiageli' or 'Nnamdi'. Lol.

This should not even be an issue of debate in the first place.

bokohalal:

I better let you know that there are Bini/Edo words for okro,ogbono and egusi.

Okro- Ikhiavbo
Ogbono-Ohere
Egusi-Ogi

If the Edos (and the whole world) got it from Igbo ,as you claim,they would have called it same or something similar. Since we call them very differently,Bros, the Edos did not get it from Igbo.

Micha-el,Michel,Mikail etc all have Hebrew origin.So there is bound to be similarity in the way different languages will say it. Andrew,Andre.Jean,John,Juan.Peter, Pedro,Petr etc.

Edos do not have a word for AKPU or BOBOZI. Those are Perfectly Igbo.And we call them same!

bigfrancis021:

You still don't get it. Do you? I'm not doubting the fact that other tribes might have indigenous soups similar to okro, egwusi and ogbono etc. They may do, but your cooking styles for all of them differ slightly, right? The edos will have their own versions of the soup. The yoruba will have their own style of cooking the soups. Someone mentioned earlier on this thread the respective yoruba names for these same soups. In the same vein, the Igbo people have the same soups which they called Egwusi, Okwuru and Ogbono in Igbo, all with their own different cooking versions. Now, the poster of this thread was asking for the origins of Ogbono, Okro, Egwusi, soups in particular, which are all Igbo. She didn't ask for the origin of Ikhiavbo soup which is the Edo version and of Edo origin neither did she ask for the the tribe that owns Apon soup, which is the yoruba version of Okro, that belongs to the yoruba. She was referring to Ogbono, Egwusi and Okro in particular which are Igbo indigenous soups.

Just like 'name', 'soup' is also a generic name. When you come under the the family of 'name', there are different names coming with different origins. Emeka is a name, same as Tayo, Peter, or Osasumwen. They are all names. But when someone asks specifically the origin of the name, 'Irabor' or 'Emeka', then we go deeper to talk of the their origins which are Edo and Igbo respectively. Chinedu and Osasumwen are both names with different origins but are the same in meaning! The meaning is the same, only the names vary, thus reflecting their origins.

The same way, egwusi, ogbono, ewedu and ohere are generally called soups. But when we talk about the origins of Ogbono soup, Ohere soup or Ewedu soup, we are referring particularly to Igbo, Edo and Yoruba.

bokohalal:

You don't get it! When an Edo cooks OHERE and he has to tell a non Edo Nigerian what he or she cooked, the person is going to say OGBONO!
Same thing if OGI and IKHIAVBO. An Edo is going to respond EGUSI and OKRO respectively.
Now,Poster knows that EGUSI,OGBONO and OKRO is what most Nigerians call it and did not know the origin. Hence the question. If he/she was asking for Igbo particular Egusi soup,there would have been no need to ask. Moreover,Egusi(ogi) is cooked in many ways in Edo but still called just that.Egusi. It does not matter whether it is Urhobo or Igbo style(if at all).

Moreover,Egusi(ogi) is cooked in many ways in Edo but still called just that.Egusi. It does not matter whether it is Urhobo or Igbo style(if at all).

Jem1: There are about 250 ethnic groups in Nigeria, I personally think it smacks of arrogance to say a particular tribe owns soups that cut across ethnicities like Ogbono, Okro, Egusi. Some of these groups have their own distinct names for the soups but use the more popular names (some of the distinct names will die off for lack of use in a few generations if they haven't died in some groups already).

bokohalal:
You are actually agreeing with me. The soup is the same but the name is different.EGUSI is the popular name for it. Poster does not know Edos have it as OGI .
Ogbanje,Abiku,Igbakhuan(Edo) means same thing. The phenomenom is the same. Ogbanje in Nigerian conversation does not make it perculiarly Igbo.

bokohalal:
Jem1: There are about 250 ethnic groups in Nigeria, I personally think it smacks of arrogance to say a particular tribe owns soups that cut across ethnicities like Ogbono, Okro, Egusi. Some of these groups have their own distinct names for the soups but use the more popular names (some of the distinct names will die off for lack of use in a few generations if they haven't died in some groups already).

bokohalal: Not the name! The soup! If poster had said Melon soup would that make it English?

Fulaman198:


Fufu is really a West African thing in general, almost every ethnic group in West Africa eats it.

That said, we Nigerians borrowed something from the Senegambians, it may have been brought here by us Fula people. Jollof Rice originated from Senegambia.

bigfrancis021:


Okra (Pronounced properly as Okwuru in Igbo) is an Igbo soup. The English word, 'okro' was derived from the Igbo word' 'Okwuru'.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/okra

Ogbono and Egusi are also Igbo native soups. The proper name for 'Egusi' is 'Egwusi' and that is the way the Igbo people pronounce it. 'Enugu' is meant to have been 'Enugwu' meaning 'on top of the mountain' but the spelling is anglicized. Igbo dishes (Okro, Egusi, Ogbono, Onugbu etc) are the most common native dishes you find in Nigeria and the most likely ones you'll get served with at Nigerian restaurants outside Nigeria. Just because the soups became popular all over Nigeria doesn't mean that we'll deny the obvious which is their Igbo origin. Vegetable soup (edikangkong) is an ibibio-efik soup also popular in Nigeria.

However, these soups have become so popular all over Nigeria that several tribes have adopted their own ways of cooking the soups. But generally, especially in Lagos where the different cooking styles exist, the Igbo cooking style is still preferred over other cooking styles.

The yoruba have their own several native meals of which only a few are popular to an extent, the most popular being amala and ewedu.




Who told you that Okro and Egusi are yoruba soups? Please don't come up here claiming what you don't know. Because the soups are popular suddenly makes them Yoruba soups, right? Aren't Ewedu, Efo riro and the rest your so-called yoruba soups?

ademijuwonlo:



The fact that it is called Okra doesn't mean other tribes doesn't have words for it. Yoruba calls it Ila. And Egusi is a yoruba word by the way and your dictionary acknowledges that.