“When I found Duchess Nena Ubani and her extensive knowledge of vegan Nigerian food, my whole world opened up once more and I reconnected again with African food…” By Victoria Koshini
Igbo Vegan – The Ultimate Guide to Igbo Plantbased Cooking and Healing is a publication that will surely rock the Igbo nation globally. This is more than just a cookbook, it is an educational and historical dissection of Igbo cultural foods and spices, revamped with a healthy plant-based twist.
Igbo Vegan reads as personal heartfelt testimony from the author. Veganism became her passion dating from 2014 when she felt extremely ill and found out she was lactose intolerant to many foods, she tried many health changing plans but eventually embraced veganism, (fully in 2016). Since then this book had subconsciously been in the making via her various vegan cooking classes, workshops, interviews, to name a few.
Nena has become a major Vegan Influencer, especially speaking from the African perspective; Igbo Vegan is the outcome of Nena’s 6 years and counting of veganism, which has been packaged brilliantly via this Igbo Vegan bible we bear witness to today.
Written by Nena Ubani (Author/ Editor-in-Chief of Vegan Melanated Magazine, Vegan Chef and Founder of Uziiza) Igbo Vegan contains over 100 plus must-have recipes and cooking tips
This groundbreaking publication eases the reader into the main course of the book by first laying down the foundation elements, being the history of the Igbo people and food, followed by a chapter dedicated to Palm Oil, which is a mainstay in most Igbo family kitchens, a chapter on Igbo fermented foods.
The author next takes us on a journey of discovery as she documents the various herbs and spices that the Igbo community use, and more importantly highlights medicinal benefits.
“…For Igbo people food is not just for feeding hunger but also used for healing and curing illness…..” Page 16, Igbo Vegan
Then we get to the main course where the author documents the various recipes for the different types of Igbo dishes; Soups (ofe), the yam recipes, Rice (Osikapa) recipes, Bean (Agwa), Cassava Recipes, Maize Corn recipes, Plantain (Abrika) recipes, contemporary dishes, and medicinal juices and teas. For each recipe under each category, the author highlights the instructions, the ingredients and the nutritional content
Igbo Vegan’s USP is that it ticks so many boxes. Firstly making Igbo recipes more accessible to the public, it also serves as an outlet for those wishing to use food as medicine i.e., via emphasising the various health benefits of the various herbs and spices. It also serves as an olive branch for non-Igbo vegans to try something different via embracing Igbo dishes. Igbo Vegan also aims to get the black community more interested in eating healthy vegan dishes.
This book has uncovered a new lane in vegan eatery, which has been discovered by Nena. Igbo Vegan has proven that veganism really has more than one face, and like our society veganism is diverse in more ways than you can imagine. Igbo Vegan goes against the grain by showing that healthy food can equally and also more enjoyable than other foods
Find out more about Nena (Duchess) Ubani (Author/ Editor-in-Chief of Vegan Melanated Magazine, Vegan Chef and Founder of Uziiza)
– Vegan Melanated Magazine: Plantbased lifestyle magazine for melanated people www.veganmelanated.com / contact@veganmelanated.com / Instagram @veganmelanated
Uzizza: UK’s first African Vegan Online Store www.uziiza.com / Instagram @uziiza
