By Tayo Ogunseye
When was the last time you had a meal of chicken and chips?
Covering the 2022 Commonwealth Games has been quite exciting for Nigerian journalists who were able to get to the city in Britain for the quadriennial Games.
Meeting people from different countries and background creates a fresh experience for any journalist who is in a country where the basics are not struggled with.
But the basic as food is what some Nigerian journalists have found difficult to adjust to…if you consider the exchange rate of the naira to the British pound.
At the last check, the naira to a pound at the unofficial rate which many adopted is about 900 naira.
In a discussion with George Aluo who is covering the 12th Commonwealth Games in Birmingham for Sportsville, it was revealed that colleagues in the Queen’s country have deviced some methods of staying ‘fulfilled’ with food by switching their meals to chicken and chips as well as other snacks.
While chickens and chips is a meal you eat here in Nigeria occasionally, due to the plenty options of local delicacies readily available at every corner even at a cheaper cost, some Nigerian journalists have found their new ‘fave’ in the foreign meal.
But why have chicken and chips everyday when there’s an option of taking African meals with some ‘orisirisi’?
Life of enjoyment you think?
Not at all!
Eating chicken and chips as well as other ‘mede-mede’ (which is a Nigerian way for describing foreign foods) remains the cheapest option if you don’t want to go bankrupt or return home empty handed.
With 3 to 4 pounds (that’s like 4,500 naira) per order at a restaurant, George said you can grab the cool combo and have your fill at the table.
Now flip to the cravings of your taste buds of eating orisirisi, the ever delicious food from the African pot and you will discover it comes at a cost!
A plate of eba and some assorted meat could cost as high as 30 pounds to satisfy that cravings.
Considering you have to spend about two weeks covering the Games and ‘spoil’ yourself to an African meal daily to satisfy your cravings.
Well, do the maths in naira.
For those who left Nigeria with a lean purse which was diminished by the depreciating local currency against other foreign ones, taking this option will definitely come at a cost.
Well, what would you do to stay focused on the Games? As Nigerians, our adaptive features set in.
Keep snacking with a strong believe of eating the fufu, amala, eba and all the companions that goes with it when you finally land in the country.
They say, East or West, North or South home is best.
