Fura da nono: Going beyond borders

It is a common sight to see fura da nono sellers around most cities in Nigeria, especially in the north. It is also a spectacular view to watch buyers swarm around these sellers like they are mother-hens with the right rhythm to end the crisis in their rumbling stomachs.

Nono is the Hausa name for the natural yogurt which is usually sold by the Fulanis who call it kosan in the Fulfulde language.

Originally taken as a snack by farmers who have worked long hours on their farms it could also be an accompaniment to morning meals which are usually leftovers from the previous night. Fura da nono has today become a national delicacy savoured by all and sundry.

Fura da nono, gruel of milk and pounded millet, is typically sold in calabashes or plastic buckets by female hawkers or elderly women at strategic spots.

One of such is Adama Ibrahim who comes to the Abuja metropolis on a daily basis from Gwagwalada.

According to Adama, she comes all the way from Gwagwalada to Jabi to sell her produce because “There are too many of us in Gwagwalada and the competition is very stiff. Coming to sell to the drivers and other workers in the Jabi Motor Park has paid me a lot more than selling in Gwagwalada.”

Although she spends no less than six hundred naira (N600) on every trip she makes into town, the Nasarawa State Fulani milkmaid says the cost of transport fare is not a factor that will discourage her. “On a good day, I make up to five thousand naira (N5, 000) as profit. On other days when business is not so good, I make about two thousand (N2, 000) or one thousand naira (N1, 000) at the least,” she said.

Hassana Saidu, a known face in Utako for fura da nono, sometimes adds manshanu and awara to her list of supplies. Servicing majority of the hungry stomachs yearning for the delicacy, Hassana comes to her strategic corner with no less than twenty litres of nono and a bowl of fura which she sells off before close of business.

Nono is made by lightly fermenting the milk after the butter is extracted.  They use cultures containing several healthy bacteria for this, and the end product is somewhat akin to both buttermilk and yoghurt, but not really tasting like either.  The nono is often sold blended with fura; this is cooked millet often spiced with ginger and hot pepper.

Hassana Saidu said, “I sell at least twenty 75cl bottles when I come with my twenty-litre bucket full of nono, along with fura commensurate to that quantity.”

Managing for over five years, Hassana has somehow consistently kept her arrival time at 12noon prompt, by which time her customers are almost too impatient for her to organise herself to start her business for the day. “Most times”, she chips in as she hurriedly sets her bucket and bowl down, “I have to quickly attend to the first batch of customers, who are usually eight perpetual men, before I get a chance to put anything in its proper place. Today, it seems you have beaten them to it,” she told this reporter.

Selling at N150 (one hundred and fifty naira) per 75cl bottle, trekking down to the popular mango tree located in a place that could be described as the heart of the Faculty of Arts, in the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria is a major fura de nono merchant who simply referred to herself as mainono. At this joint, there is no class distinction between lecturers and students, labourers or blue bloods as everyone converges there for the same purpose – “belle satisfaction” as a student calls it.

A worry for some who prefer to buy the fura only from such vendors is the case of hygiene. Idris Hamidu explains. “Initially I used to buy the fura and nono and sit there and drink it. The ambiance around such environments makes it all the more fun and tasty. But one day, just as I was taking a spoonful, I noticed something had caked around the calabash brim from which I was drinking. That day I had runny stomach like never before. That killed any pleasure I derive from drinking fura in these public bowls or in those spaces. Now I just buy the fura, take it home and mix it with my yoghurt.”

 

Although taking it on the spot is a delight for many like Hamidu, some others like John Folarin, prefer to drink it a few hours later or after one day of refrigeration. “It is tastier the next day the same way ogbono soup is sweeter after day one or after some hours. Drinking it chilled on the rocks, as my son and I describe it after putting some cubes of ice in it, is a thrill best experienced. In a few words, I say it will make you feel good.”

Taking the sale to another level and ensuring hygiene and portability is Dr. Jibrin Ibrahim of Safinabe, a company which now machine dries the fura and sells it packaged with a shelf life of up to one year. According to him, “Millet is a highly nutritious and easily digestible grain which helps lower cholesterol, protect against cardiovascular diseases and reduce cancer risks.”

Giving a brief history of how fura and nono came to be a permanent combination he said, “Millet is one of the basic cereals in the Sahel from Chad to Senegal. Traditionally, because the farmers have worked with pastoralists, there was the idea of combining the powder from the millet and the yoghurt from the pastoralists to produce this semi-liquid drink which is considered a very healthy meal for lunch especially when people don’t want to eat heavy.”

Nono is generally consumed as a local substitute to the commercial yoghurt because it is cheap and has good nutritional qualities.

source/weekly trust.