Plant Health Is Human Health
Africa’s Kitchen Pharmacy Grows in Every Leaf, Root, and Seed

Cassava field edged with moringa, Sierra Leone – food + medicine in one row

Long before the United Nations declared 2020 the International Year of Plant Health, African grandmothers already knew the truth:

If the plant is sick, the person will be sick.
If the plant is strong, the person will be strong.

1908 Proof from the Eastern Cape: The Original Kitchen Pharmacy

In 1908, Dr. Isaac M. Weitz walked the veld with Zulu and Xhosa healers and wrote down what they had practised for centuries. These were not “wild herbs.” They were deliberate crops, planted between maize rows, beside the kraal, and right outside the kitchen door.

Moringa oleifera – “The Tree That Never Dies”

Leaves → iron + vitamin A ×7 compared to spinach
Weitz: “Used for weakness after childbirth”
Grandmother: Handful in groundnut sauce = dinner + multivitamin

Lippia javanica – “Fever Tea” (Zulu: umsuzwane)

Weitz (p. 97): First remedy for malaria symptoms
Today: Brew 3 leaves in hot water → natural paracetamol + delicious lemony tea

Aloe ferox – Bitter Aloe

Weitz: Purgative and wound gel
Kitchen trick: Crystal sap + honey = cough syrup that tastes like childhood

Tulbaghia violacea – Wild Garlic

Weitz: For high blood pressure and worms
Cook: Chop leaves into pap or relish → natural ACE-inhibitor on the plate

Science Finally Caught Up

• Gardening 30–45 min lowers blood pressure (National Heart Institute)
• Fresh home-grown produce → adults finally hit 5-a-day (Univ. of Florida)
• Soil microbes increase serotonin → less depression (2017 meta-analysis)
• Sun on skin while weeding → free vitamin D for bones

But African women knew this before the studies. They planted moringa next to the kitchen door for exactly these reasons.

Your 15-Minute Kitchen-Pharmacy Garden (Even on a City Balcony)

Start with three pots:

1. Moringa seedling (grows 3 metres in one year)
2. Fever-tea (Lippia) cutting – roots in water in 7 days
3. Wild garlic bulb – plant once, harvest forever

Water them → talk to them → harvest them → cook them → heal with them.

The same leaf that shades the soil
flavours the soup
and lowers your blood pressure
is the same leaf your great-grandmother planted.
Nothing new under the sun — just waiting for us to remember.

Plant health is human health. Always was.

Nsala African food recipe is also known as white soup, a thick and spicy soup made with fish, liver, honeycomb tripe and chicken. Depending on the tribe and the region in Nigeria, the recipe ingredients change according to what is available on the menu.

 

Learn to make White Soup Nsala and Eba African Food Recipe

White Soup Nsala Recipe Ingredients and Directions

Ingredients
4 skinless chicken thighs
1 pound chicken liver
4 any type of fish fillets
1 pound honeycomb beef tripe, cleaned and cut into bite-size pieces
1 small cassava, peeled and diced
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
3 green onions, chopped
2 cloves fresh garlic, peeled and chopped
5 whole black peppercorns
2 tablespoons ground red pepper
2 tablespoons ground curry
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Water to cover

Directions
Heat the oil in the large stew pot, add onions and cook until slightly soft. Add tripe, add spices, cover with water and reduce heat to medium-low, cover pot, and simmer for 1 1/2 hours. Add chicken and cassava and simmer 30 minutes longer. Add fish and livers, simmer 20 minutes. Serve with Eba on the side.

Eat your African food recipe Nsala White Soup with Eba also known as Garri. Traditionally Eba is used as a side dish to soups and stews in Nigeria.

Eba Recipe Ingredients and Directions

Ingredients
1/2 cups white coarse cornmeal or grated garri
1 teaspoon sea salt
3 cups water

Directions
Add water in a large pot, add garlic and salt. In a large bowl mix meal and flour together well and add to water. On high heat bring mixture to a boil stirring constantly until thick paste forms. Remove from pot and allow to cool slightly before serving. Eba is eaten by out pulling small pieces and squeezing it lightly to form the dough to scoop sauce. Use Eba in place of your fork and spoon.

Seafood cuisine from Africa is easy to make and smoked fish soup is the easiest recipe to master when cooking African food.

African Food is simple but flavorful and delicious so make our African fish recipe of Africa's Best Smoked Fish Soup. It takes less than 30 minutes start to finish. The key ingredient to this African stew dish is peanut butter and curry spice.

Chic African Best Smoked Fish Soup Ingredients and Step by Step Directions.

Ingredients
1 large smoked fish
1 large onion, diced
2 large tomatoes, diced
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon ground curry powder
2 teaspoons peanut butter
2 teaspoons tomato paste
4 any type hot peppers
3 garlic cloves
3 cups vegetable broth

Directions
In a large pot, saute onions in oil then add tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic and pepper. Let cook for 10 minutes. Add 3 cups of water and nut paste, and then let it simmer for another 10 minutes. Add the fish, chili's, salt and curry. Simmer at very low heat for 15 to 20 minutes. Serve with fresh bread, cornmeal, potatoes, plantains, cassava or rice.

African food recipes are easy to make at home.

More economical easy breakfast, lunch and dinner recipes to make right now so you never have to eat or prepare a boring meal again.

1. Curried Tanzanian Coconut Okra Recipe
2. Frikkadelle an Afrikaner dish of meatballs
3. Senegalese Chicken Vermicelli
4. Chadian Steamed Honey Cassava Buns
5. Cameroon Smoked Bonga Fish Stew