Nigerian Chef Turns Local Crop Into Healthy Pasta

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During a 2020 COVID lockdown in Lagos, Nigeria, chef Renee Chuks began experimenting with a new pasta recipe. Usually pasta is made from wheat. But instead of wheat, Chuks used crops grown locally, like cassava and plantain, as her pasta base.

Now, she sells the dried food in health food stores and online. She named her business Aldente Africa. She says it is among the first in Nigeria to make gluten-free pasta.

Chuks is part of an international movement to avoid gluten, a protein found in some grains, including wheat. Many people seek wheat substitutes because gluten can create health problems.

Cassava is one such substitute for wheat. It is a root vegetable rich in minerals and Vitamin C. Nigeria is one of the world's biggest producers of cassava.

Gluten is a protein found in wheat and some other grains. Humans digestive systems cannot break down gluten completely. While this is not a problem for most people, some people get sick from undigested gluten. One example is an autoimmune response to gluten called celiac disease. Celiac can damage the small intestine¹.

However, Chuks has other goals besides avoiding gluten. She says Africa should use more locally grown crops to help improve food security on the continent. African countries, she adds, need to consider the foods they eat every day --- like cassava.

Chuks said, "We figured, let's start with that. If we are able to get good success with cassava then everything else will follow."

The chef also found that plantain and the small grain fonio works well for pasta-making. She adds local herbs and vegetables for taste and color. Some of her pastas are green or pink.

Chuk's company also produces wines made from hibiscus plants, as well as herbs for cooking.

Words in This Stories

chef – n. a skilled professional cook

pasta – n. a dough² of flour, eggs, and water made in different shapes and dried or used fresh

recipe – n. a set of instructions for making something (as a food dish) by combining various things

digestion³ – n. the body's process or power of changing food into simpler forms that can be taken up and used : digestive – adj. relating to or functioning in digestion

herb – n. a plant or plant part used in medicine or in seasoning⁴ foods

wine – n. an alcoholic beverage made from the fermented juice of grapes

1 intestine   

adj.内部的；国内的；n.肠

参考例句：

• This vitamin is absorbed through the walls of the small intestine.这种维生素通过小肠壁被吸收。
• The service productivity is the function,including external efficiency,intestine efficiency and capacity efficiency.服务业的生产率是一个包含有外部效率、内部效率和能力效率的函数。

2 dough   

n.生面团；钱，现款

参考例句：

• She formed the dough into squares.她把生面团捏成四方块。
• The baker is kneading dough.那位面包师在揉面。

3 digestion   

n.消化，吸收

参考例句：

• This kind of tea acts as an aid to digestion.这种茶可助消化。
• This food is easy of digestion.这食物容易消化。

4 seasoning   

n.调味；调味料；增添趣味之物

参考例句：

• Salt is the most common seasoning.盐是最常用的调味品。
• This sauce uses mushroom as its seasoning.这酱油用蘑菇作调料。