The English word “barbecue” comes from the Spanish word ‘barbacoa’, believed to be derived from ‘barabicu’, found in the language of the Arawak people of the Caribbean. Barbecue or its shortened variant, BBQ broadly refers to food that is cooked over live fire and smoke.
Barbequed meat in Africa is older than most people know. From the Braai/Shisa Nyama tradition of South Africa, Suya in West Africa to Mushkaki/Nyama Choma in East Africa, the grilled meat culture is a pervasive one across the continent. Africa’s Barbeque tradition has evolved from delicacy to street food and has brought people together, unifying people across various social classes, religions, and ethnicity. Barbeque time has become a favorite pastime to discuss issues over cold drinks and well-marinated and tasty grilled meat. Barbeque spices have found their way into other applications. Nigeria’s suya spices – a blend of ginger, roasted peanuts, and hot chili pepper – have become a popular seasoning for noodles and pasta meals.
In this edition, we feature the spicy African BBQ flavors and its role as a versatile spice with hyperlocal applications across Africa’s meat-loving people. As always, Freddy Hirsch Nigeria proudly presents a rich blend of authentic BBQ spice flavors with a wide range of traditional applications for traditional soups, sauces, and snacks.
We also feature our big announcement with Symrise AG; a partnership to boost food innovation and nutrition in West Africa by the development, launch, and commercialization of transformational food products: general seasoning, bouillon meat, snacks, and instant noodles. This innovative partnership will harness Symrise AG’s position as a global multibillion-dollar fragrances, care, flavor, and nutrition supplier with >10% market share and presence in 100+ countries, with Freddy Hirsch Nigeria’s capabilities as a West African manufacturer of ingredients and flavors with world-class Research, Development, and Application laboratories and manufacturing facilities.
We hope you will enjoy reading this newsletter as much as we enjoyed writing it.
Welcome to the sixth edition of our ‘A Taste of Africa’ newsletter!
Kojo Brifo
Managing Director, Freddy Hirsch Nigeria
Flavor of the month
Our flavor for the month is the African Barbeque, multipurpose street food, and delicacy with various applications across Africa.
Whether as Suya in Nigeria, Kapana in Namibia, Chinchinga in Ghana, or Shisa Nyama/Braai in South Africa, the African BBQ is a much sought-after, highly versatile food that brings people of various social classes and ethnicity together.
Over the years, this rich source of protein has created its own unique spices that are enjoyed in other meals like pasta, noodles, rice, traditional soups, and sauces.
Find out more about our African BBQ flavors here
You can also watch our video on our African BBQ flavors here
Enjoy reduced OPEX, FOREX gains with Freddy Hirsch
As the preferred partner of choice to local and global food and manufacturing companies in West Africa, we empower our customers with locally sourced materials and non-FOREX implications. Some of the benefits we offer our customers are Naira trading and predictable OPEX, Speed to market, due to local sourcing, non-FX issues, and shorter lead times, among others.
Find out more about our Value Proposition here
Freddy Hirsch in the news
Germany-based fragrances, care, flavorings, and nutrition manufacturer, Symrise AG has entered a strategic partnership with Freddy Hirsch Nigeria, a West African manufacturer of spices, ingredients, and flavors. Together, Symrise AG and Freddy Hirsch Nigeria are focused on boosting food innovation and nutrition in West Africa. Read the announcement here.