By Simon Ebegbulem

I T is the most popular Ukodo (yam pepper soup) joint in Benin City, Edo State capital. The nondescript restaurant, located along Airport Road, operated by 55-year-old Madam Lovelyn Okorie, who hails from Orlu, Imo State, is where top shots, in Edo and neighbouring Delta State, who love the delicacy, congregate daily like aficionados.

Madam Okorie, who has been in the business for more than three decades with her furniture-maker/palm-wine tapper husband and children, spoke to Niger Delta Voice on how it all started in 1982.

Background

We are from Orlu in Imo State. I started selling this yam pepper soup in 1982 by Benoni Junction in Benin City. But we moved from Benoni to Airport Road in 1987. I got married in 1980, but my husband was a furniture maker then. We found out that after building the furniture and exhibiting them for sale, for over one week buyers do not come.

So things became very difficult for us and my husband entered into palm wine tapping. He started supplying people and people love buying his palm wine because it is always fresh.

In 1982, I started cooking pepper soup, but later started using yam so as to help my husband in the family. One day his trap caught an antelope. I took a portion of the bush meat to make pepper soup. I got N30 from the sales of that day. Because Nigeria was good then, I took N20 from the N30 and bought a goat. That was how we started using goat to make the pepper soup and I added yam later.

Managing the business

I have been managing well and that is why you see me having many customers. The taste does not change. I discovered that if your soup is not consistent, you will lose customers. I have been consistent; the taste of the pepper soup has been consistent since 1982. I had 12 children but they are now ten because I lost a boy and a girl. My senior son graduated from Auchi Polytechnic recently and is getting ready for National Youth Service Corps, NYSC. Others are still in secondary school, while one is working in Port Harcourt.

I trained them with this business, nothing more. It is because of them that I am working hard so that they can have a future. I am getting tired. My prayers is for them to grow stronger so I can withdraw from cooking every day because the smoke from the fire wood is telling on my health now. I need to change to another business. After cooking, my children and other workers serve the customers. I prefer doing the cooking myself so that the taste will not change.

Do you people visit your home town at all?

Haba! We always go home because I built a one-storey building in the village and also building another one here in Benin. I love going to the village a lot. We will soon move to our new place in Benin. We do not have anybody at home, so we always go home to take care of the place. My motivation is borne from the fact that I want to help my family. One thing about life is that whoever wants to be lazy will be lazy and that is the person’s business. I did not learn this business. I jumped into it one day because I want to assist my husband, who was a carpenter then.

That is why I hate seeing young women these days going into prostitution because they are poor. That is rubbish. Poverty is not an excuse to destroy your life. In fact, such people are lazy. I used to teach people this job so that they will be useful to themselves. There is this woman I taught how to cook at Ekenwan Road. After cooking, she would hawk with wheel barrow. So one day, one of my customers ate her pepper soup and told her she should go and learn from me that her own is not as sweet as mine.

The woman came here and told me that somebody directed her to me. I taught her. But since then, I have not seen her. Several people have come here to learn and I always teach them.

When do you wake?

I wake up at 4 am every day, but 3am on Sundays.

So you don’t go to church?

I do go to church. I attend evening mass each time I miss the first mass.

So if you are not around, who prepares the pepper soup?

It is always difficult, but luckily for me one of my sons understands how to cook it very well and he handles it when I am not around.In fact, he does better than the women, who are already married now: two of them.

But how do you prepare the spices for the pepper soup?

I get the ingredients from the market. If I am with somebody who is learning from me, I make sure I tell him the right thing to do so that he will not go and spoil the business with bad cooking. You know that some people use white Maggi. But it is not good. I use Knorr cube. Some spices, such as Star is too salty so I do not use them. I use Knorr. So all you will now do is to measure the quantity of water, how many cubes and other spices to put.

Some people will wrongly measure those things and the food will lose its taste.

So what will you like to do after this business?

Honestly, I am not getting stronger at all. Sometimes I kill the goat myself and prepare it for cooking. My husband use to help me too. It is not easy, fire from the wood is affecting me seriously and I am suffering pains on my knees. I have been on drugs all these years. I have taken my drugs early this morning.

Life is not easy, but any woman that got married and tries to depend entirely on her husband does not know what she is doing. Instead of engaging in prostitution and stealing, engage yourself in one trade or another and God will bless you in what you do.

Prostitution is not even easy. So the efforts you put into jumping from one man to the other are better channelled to something more respectful. When I retire from this business, I intend to open a provision shop for the sake of my health.