Unpopular opinion: Jollof debates are boring. Let’s talk about the truly underrated Nigerian dishes

Everyone knows jollof, everyone has an opinion. Meanwhile: banga soup, ofada with ayamase, gbegiri, and kunu are dishes that deserve infinitely more global love than they get.

Banga in particular baffles me — it’s got everything international audiences claim to want from ‘bold’ cuisine, and it’s barely made a dent outside the regions that already eat it daily. Ofada rice with ayamase has the kind of heat-and-depth combination that usually gets a dish internet-famous.

If any of these ever get their proper moment, I suspect it’ll be banga first — it photographs well, and that matters more than it should.