HealthScapades Episode #1 | The Problem with Ponmo | 19.07.2023
by Tayo Fasuan
I’m making a mental note presently as I’m walking home from the market, thinking of how I am going to make my meal as easy and smooth as it can get this evening. But the more I think about it, the more I frown. The problem with cooking is not just the time it takes to put good food together, but the expertise needed for individual meals. I wonder how chefs were able to know the right materials to use in the right amount at the right time!
Why all these soliloquies? I am about to cook ponmo again. Apart from the issue with market women looking at people who buy ponmo like sapa-infested people, why should ponmo be as hard as Nigeria itself after being cooked for so long? Why? Wetin be that? Why can’t it be soft after cooking? Anyway, I must cook the ponmo this evening, though, because not only is sapa dealing with me, but I also love eating ponmo. The soft ones, please.
As I settle inside the kitchenette and put the ponmo inside the pot of water to soften it by boiling it, I open my phone to check the news from Google. I see a news headline as I am scrolling in peace that makes my breath catch in my throat. Anthrax can be contracted through ponmo? Wait…what?! I look at my pot with suspicion and put my phone down. I switch off my gas and took the pot off the gas and placed it on the floor. I am already considering dumping the whole thing inside the bin when a thought occurs to me. Wetin be anthrax sef? And why can I get it through ponmo?
I was thinking about how to sort my thoughts because I sincerely don’t want to do away with my precious ponmo. Then it hit me! Off I go to my favourite Facebook page for health information, BioTalks Plus(+). Ain’t no place like this to get authentic health and wellbeing information. And just like I suspected, there is already information about the disease there. I heave a sigh of relief, sit down properly and read everything written and listen to the BioTalks provided. I calm down a bit and resume boiling my ponmo for three haaaaarrrrrsss! Why?
Because it’s actually undercooked ponmo, and even bush meat, that can be contaminated with microbes that cause anthrax. I feel brilliant already. I fit be a microbiologist sef. You sef go read am and learn. I no fit lie give you.
But my feeling of triumph quickly evaporates after cooking my ponmo, and the thing is still as hard as a nail. Again, wetin be this? You sure say na cow hide be this sef? I angrily make another mental note not to ever buy ponmo again from Iya Risika. Nonsense!