14 Comments
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Kyja Jewelweed's avatar

Thank you so much.

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Anela Malik's avatar

This was so informative thank you!

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NAOMI DUGUID's avatar

So important that we all learn about the difference between red palm oil, palm kernal oil, and industrial palm oil. Thank-you for this post. I saw home-made palm oil being made and cooked with in Casamance nearly thirty years ago. It was a revelation. And there's also so much red palm oil used in cooking in Bahia. So delicious and so beautiful.

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Lysanne Jansen's avatar

Very informative, thank you! Good luck with finishing your PHD

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mis.conceptions's avatar

Very important to know. Thankyou for sharing this information.

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Susana Mejia's avatar

This is an illuminating take on a villainized oil thank you!!

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Sheryl O'Connell's avatar

What a fascinating piece. I was absolutely riveted.

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Ivana Esther Martínez's avatar

This whole piece was an EDUCATION™ thank you Afia 🖤✨ So much I didn’t know about palm oil, it’s significance as a heritage ingredient and its nutritional value.

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Sally Morgan's avatar

Thank you Afia - so good to learn about the origins of the crop. Sadly I have documented too many burnt / burning rainforests in SE Asia - cleared for rubber and palm oil .... And now I avoid foods that contain palm oil

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Afia's avatar

I totally understand. The goal of the post was to highlight that West African palm oil production exists outside of SEA palm oil. Hope you will be willing to give west African food a shot :)

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Sally Morgan's avatar

Its great to read about the genuine & heritage palm oil - sadly there is nothing on food packaging to indicate origins, so given the volumes, I have to assume its from SE Asia - Is there much export to UK / EU?

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Afia's avatar

Unfortunately, I think you misunderstood my messaging. To cook west African food, you cannot use commercialised palm oil. Oil in SE Asia is used for different products, we cannot use it to cook our foods. The two exist in two separate spheres. Palm oil used for west African cooking HAS to come from west Africa or central Africa. It is made in small scale as the trees grow wild, they are not actively planted in the most part. If you want to cook west African food, you HAVE to go to a west African store and the packaging will tell you which west African country. The oil is not processed either. I hope this adds clarity. I am in no way taking away the concern of SEA palm oil. But this is the difficult thing when people apply one issue in another part of the world to somewhere completely out of the problem. This is the nuance people lack. Please refer to the last paragraph in my newsletter.

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Will's avatar

I really appreciate this. Thank you.

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Oluwatobiloba's avatar

Thank you for sharing such crucial information. I'm grateful your voice exists in a space that is so easily overlooked for us Africans. I'm a Nigerian living in Nigeria.

🫶🏾

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