When next you are in Port Harcourt; whether on a business visit, on vacation or you slithered into the town to see a friend or two, visit one of the many Bole joints around the town and have a feel of what life in the oil city looks like .
PortHarcourt is well known for housing a concentration of oil companies and for being the energy capital of Nigeria. However, what people don’t know is that the city has some of the best delicacies in the country and when it comes to food, the city also has a unique brand of culinary flavours.
It also has it’s own unique features from the burkas to the the Bole joints and then the organized restaurant chains like Jevnic, Genesis or even the Chinese restaurant.
If you are a little averse to unorganized restaurant setting, you will definitely find Bole unattractive.
However, the unattractive nature of the joints does not in anyway, diminish it’s richness in nutrients and culinary qualities.
Life in this city has always been different from what is obtainable elsewhere, in all ramifications and the people glory in those differences.
That is why the people love their food in different ways through which they are prepared and presented.
Bole is not prepared in a plush air conditioned restaurant setting with big banners advertising different delicacies on the menu, and waiters taking orders while you sit and watch others trickle in and out.
No! It is sold in the parks, at the roadsides, street corners and any open space where there is space for a table and and long benches for customers to sit and enjoy the popular delicacy that has fed a generations of locals and has provided financial independence to those who ventured into it.
It is a one person business, at best, you will find children helping their mothers attend to customers but it has become the king of PortHarcourt food and the town has defiled every attempt to package Bole into a form that is different from it’s traditional setting.
As a Boli seller told me “I began this business when I was a young girl like this my daughter (pointed to her daughter who is her 20s), and I have done tangible things with it”
There is a need for you to try it on your next visit and I will tell you for free: you will be glad you did.
Besides its mouth watering effects, Boli is 98 percent natural, the only unnatural constituents being the Maggi used in spicing up the source to produce the distinct taste that bole is known for.
It is affordable and you don’t have to dig holes in your pockets to enjoy this unique delicacy.
Want to know what is happening around or perhaps the trending topic up for discussion around the streets, you will probably find it at a Boli joint. Just pay attention and listen or ask questions.
Want to eat healthy, Boli makes eating healthy so easy to do. You probably will be seeing plantain in a different way after eating Boli.
Boli is not just a food for the locals, it has become a part of their identity. If it is not Boli, it can’t be like Boli.
The constituents are some of our everyday edible materials idling away in your kitchen: plantain, yam, tomatoes, pepper, onions, Maggi, plantain and yam roasted carefully in an open flame.
The sauce, prepared with a range of locally sourced spices leaves an after-taste in the mouth and you will will probably enjoy the fish in its roasted form than you will when it is steamed.
