Ugba & Okporoko

Ugba (oil bean seed) and Okporoko (stockfish) together as a dish is native to the Igbos of former Eastern Nigeria (now the Southeast geopolitical zone of Nigeria) . . .

History of Okporoko

Okporoko (stockfish) is typically native to the Igbos of the southeast of Nigeria. It was not generally known from the amalgamation of Nigeria in 1914. From that period to Nigeria’s independence in 1960, stockfish or okporoko (as it was called by the Igbos) was still not generally known. When the Nigerian civil war (i.e. the Nigeria-Biafra war or the Biafran war) broke out in 1967 Okporoko became a main source of protein.

Photo: Stockfish drying by cold air and wind outside a home on the foreshore in a Scandinavian country

However, this did not become so until Kwashiorkor set in inside the Biafran enclave after the economic blockade instituted by the Nigerian federal troops. Kwashiorkor is a form of severe protein–energy malnutrition characterized by edema, irritability, anorexia, ulcerating dermatoses, and an enlarged liver with fatty infiltrates.

Stockfish is unsalted fish, especially cod, dried by cold air and wind on wooden racks on the foreshore, which is called “hjell” in Norway. The drying of food is the world’s oldest known preservation method, and dried fish has a storage life of several years. The method is cheap and effective in suitable climates; the work can be done by the fisherman and family, and the resulting product is easily transported to local markets or markets abroad.

During that war (1967-1970) and particularly around 1968-1969, hunger and starvation set-in in Biafra. Some of the Scandinavian countries of Norway, Sweden and others through charitable organizations; the Caritas organization (Caritas Internationalis) of the Catholic Church; and other relief agencies, started airlifting food supplies (including the stockfish from the Scandinavia) to starving Biafran men, women and children, especially the children who were fastest-prone to the Kwashiorkor decease. After the war, the Igbos who relied so much on the stockfish for survival became hooked on the unsalted fish from Scandinavia.

Photo: Ugba (fermented oil bean seed)

‘Ugba and Okporoko’ Delicacy

After the war, “Ugba and Okporoko” emerged as an Igbo native delicacy of sorts as the people experimented with food supplements. It is now cooked and served at ceremonies, occasions, in beer parlors, eateries and at home – mainly as a delicacy. Ugba and Okporoko is a Nigerian food delicacy.

It is pertinent here to state that ‘Ugba’ undergoes extensive fermentation before it is considered edible.