{{Short description|Soup made from palm fruit}} thumb|200px|A close-up view of palm nut soup '''Palm nut soup''' or '''banga''' is a soup made from palm fruit<ref>{{cite book | last=Saffery | first=D. | title=The Ghana Cookery Book | publisher=Jeppestown Press | year=2007 | isbn=978-0-9553936-6-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tSVcQFoIsDIC&pg=PA50|page=50}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Yussif | first=E. | title=The Facet of Black Culture | publisher=Trafford Publishing | issue=v. 1 | year=2013 | isbn=978-1-4669-8847-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ueo4AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA53|page=53}}</ref> common in Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo and Ivory Coast. The soup is made from a palm cream or palm nut base with stewed marinated meats, smoked dried fish, and aromatics. It is often eaten with starch, eba, fufu, omotuo, banku, fonio, or rice.
== By region ==
=== Cameroon ===
{{lang|fr|Mbanga|italic=yes}} soup is a palm fruit soup in Cameroonian cuisine<ref>{{Cite book|last=Osseo-Asare|first=Fran|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1s-a7EMM6BgC&dq=Mbanga+soup&pg=PA147|title=Food Culture in Sub-Saharan Africa|date=November 24, 2005|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=9780313324888|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Crush|first1=Jonathan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=41UiDQAAQBAJ&dq=Mbanga+soup&pg=PA147|title=Rapid Urbanisation, Urban Food Deserts and Food Security in Africa|last2=Battersby|first2=Jane|date=September 23, 2016|publisher=Springer|isbn=9783319435671|via=Google Books}}</ref> and West African cuisine.<ref>{{Cite web|date=February 13, 2013|title=Mbanga/Palmnut Soup|url=https://www.africanbites.com/mbangapalmnut-soup/}}</ref> It is often served with kwacoco. The soup is Cameroon's version of the West African banga, a palm fruit soup eaten in areas including parts of Nigeria. In Cameroon {{lang|fr|mbanga|italic=no}} is made using fresh palm nuts. Outside the area canned nuts can be used.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.congocookbook.com/soup-and-stew-recipes/mbanga-palm-nut-soup/|title=Mbanga (Palm Nut) Soup|date=Jul 21, 2018|access-date=Jul 11, 2021|archive-date=August 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210805141214/http://www.congocookbook.com/soup-and-stew-recipes/mbanga-palm-nut-soup/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
=== Nigeria ===
thumb|Eba (garri from cassava) served with fresh fish banga (palm kernel) soup in a clay pot thumb|Palm oil rice (banga rice) served with assorted cuts of beef and boiled egg
{{lang|urh|Banga|italic=no}} is a type of palm fruit soup from Southern (the Niger Delta) Nigeria, particularly the itsekiri, isoko, ijaw and urhobo ethnic groups.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://allnigerianfoods.com/banga-soup/ | title=Banga Soup | Original Recipe from Delta State Nigeria }}</ref> This cuisine is quite different from {{lang|ig|ofe akwụ|italic=no|}}, a variant found in Igbo culture. The Binis have a soup from palm fruits similar to {{lang|ig|ofe akwu|italic=no}} in ingredients and manner of preparation.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Banga Soup (Ofe Akwu)|url=https://www.allnigerianrecipes.com/soups/banga-soup/|access-date=2020-06-04|website=All Nigerian Recipes|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2015-09-22|title=Ofe Akwu - Igbo Style Banga Soup|url=https://sisijemimah.com/2015/09/22/ofe-akwu/|access-date=2020-06-04|website=Sisi Jemimah|language=en-GB}}</ref> The itsekiri people call it obieyen, Urhobo people’s calls it ame edi, the isoko calls it Izuwo ibiedi.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Six Savoury and Sumptuous Soups |url=https://artsandculture.google.com/story/six-savoury-and-sumptuous-soups/6QUBPDixwYYcKA |access-date=2024-05-20 |website=Google Arts & Culture |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-05-21 |title=Banga Soup Recipe - African Food Network |url=https://afrifoodnetwork.com/recipes/soup-stew-recipes/banga-soup-recipe/ |access-date=2026-02-10 |language=en-US}}</ref>
In Nigeria, this soup accompanies dishes such as starch (''usi'') and (''Eba'') for the itsekiri people of Delta State, Nigeria, starch and garri was introduced by the itsekiri's who got cassava from the Europeans who taught them how to process it.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dapper |first=Olfert |url=http://archive.org/details/bim_early-english-books-1641-1700_africa-being-an-accurat_dapper-olfert_1670 |title=Africa: being an accurate description, ... 1670 |date=1670 |others=Internet Archive}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Barbot |first=Jean |url=http://archive.org/details/descriptionofcoa00barb |title=A description of the coasts of north and south-Guinea, and of Ethiopia inferior, vulgarly Angola ... And a new relation of the province of Guiana, and of the great rivers of Amazons and Oronoque in South-America. With an appendix being a general account of the first discoveries of America, in the fourteenth century, and some observations thereon. And a geographical, political, and natural history of the Antilles-Islands, in the North-Sea of America .. |date=1732 |others=Duke University Libraries}}</ref> The Igbo people have the stew and soup varieties made from palm fruits. Ofe akwu is the stew variety usually eaten with rice while the palm fruit extract is used especially in Anambra state to prepare oha and onugbu soup accompanied with swallows, malleable starch-based foods eaten by hand, such as pounded cassava (utara/akpu) and corn/cassava flour (nni oka).
The palm fruit is often harvested from locally grown palm fruit trees, after which it is thoroughly washed, boiled and mashed for the extraction of its oil, the main ingredient in the preparation of banga soup.
Banga soup is flavored with {{not a typo|beletete}}, aidan fruit, rohojie, spice leaves called obenetietien (scent or bitter leaves can be substituted), a stick of oburunbebe, finely chopped onion, ground crayfish, chili pepper or Scotch bonnet, and salt. The soup is eaten with starch made with cassava and palm oil or rice in southern parts of Nigeria. Banga soup is mostly prepared using fresh catfish, dried or smoked fish, or meat. Okra may be added.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Saffery|first=David|title=The Ghana Cookery Book|publisher=Jeppestown Press|year=2007|isbn=9780955393662|pages=50, 51}}</ref> It is made by extracting the liquid of palm kernels.<ref>{{Cite web |title=How to prepare Banga Soup or Obe Eyin |url=https://igboists.forumotion.com/t10-how-to-prepare-banga-soup-or-obe-eyin |access-date=2024-05-20 |website=igboists.forumotion.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Six Savoury and Sumptuous Soups |url=https://artsandculture.google.com/story/six-savoury-and-sumptuous-soups/6QUBPDixwYYcKA |access-date=2024-05-20 |website=Google Arts & Culture |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=9jafoodie |date=2014-12-15 |title=Iresi Eyin- Yoruba Style Local Jollof |url=https://9jafoodie.com/iresi-eyin-yoruba-style-local-jollof/ |access-date=2024-05-20 |website=9jafoodie {{!}} Nigerian Food Recipes |language=en-US}}</ref> Thereafter, other ingredients like crayfish, meat, fish, pepper and cow tripe are added. It is eaten with eba (garri) or usi (starch). (''Elaeis guineensis'') extract.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.sisiyemmie.com/2014/08/banga-soup-recipe-and-starch-niger.html?m=1 | title=Banga Soup Recipe and Starch - the Niger Delta Way!!! }}</ref>
== Gallery == <gallery widths=180> Palm nut soup with fish.jpg|Palm nut soup with fish Palm nut soup.jpg|Palm nut soup Akan Ghanaian Palm Nut Soup.jpg|Akan Ghanaian palm nut soup Palm nut soup close up.jpg|Palm nut soup close up Palm nut soup on fire.jpg|Palm nut soup Fufu with palm nut soup, snail and tilapia.JPG|Fufu with palm nut soup, snail and tilapia </gallery>
== See also == {{portal|Food|Nigeria}} * Groundnut soup * Kpekpele * List of soups
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == {{Commons}} *[http://www.kadiafricanrecipes.com/palm-nut-soup.html Palm nut soup recipe] *[http://www.ghananation.com/recipes/Palmnut-Soup.asp Palm Nut Soup] *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvKdHaVvxUk Video: How to make Palmnut Soup (GH)]
{{Fruit soups}}
Category:Fruit soups Category:Cameroonian cuisine Category:Ghanaian soups Category:Nigerian soups Category:Ghanaian meat dishes Category:Dried fish Category:Smoked fish