Lango traditional vegetable foods have continued to diminish as a result of modern edibles that have dominated the daily human diet.
Back in the day, the Lango tribal group was known for enjoying traditional vegetables like Amalakwang (Hibiscus sabdariffa), Akeo (Gynandropsis gynandra), Alaju (Asystasia gangetica), Otigo (Corchorus spp.), Acwica (Cucubita maxima), and Bojo (Vigna unguiculata), among others, as their most favourite delicacies.
In fact, those days, if you visited the home of a Lango native and they didn’t prepare for you any of these vegetables (past), you would feel uncomfortable.
In addition to enjoying these vegetables as daily delicacies, Lango would use them to manage various disease conditions, including gastrointestinal, reproductive, and musculoskeletal complications, as well as non-communicable diseases. The community obtains vegetable leaves from the backyard and stews them for medicinal purposes; unfortunately, the seeds of these vegetables have continued to diminish over time.
It’s against this background that the former Prime Minister of the Lango Cultural Foundation, Prof. Dr Richard Nam, has kicked off initiatives aimed at preserving and conserving the popular traditional foods of the Lango tribal group.
Dr. Nam, a senior medical expert in Lango, believes some of the prominent diseases, including ulcers and cancer, are a result of the lack of these vegetables’ consumption.
“In the current days, it’s very rare to see some traditional foods like Alaju, Otigo, Amola, Amaido Munu, and Amalakwang. In the past, people used to live long due to the consumption of traditional foods rich in various nutrients.” Nam said.
Dr. Nam asserts that severe health conditions are a result of the food people are eating, adding that they have collected all varieties of traditional vegetable seeds, which they intend to distribute to every household after multiplying. He encouraged those who can afford to buy those seeds from agri-input dealers to embrace the initiative.
Charles Ojok Ongom, one of the project staff members, said currently they have planted most of these seeds for multiplication.
Tito Openy (77) is confident that eating traditional food is healthier.
“When we eat traditional food, we don’t get disease since it’s medicinal,” said Openy.
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