{"id":1299,"date":"2014-09-02T17:29:53","date_gmt":"2014-09-02T17:29:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=1299"},"modified":"2014-09-02T17:29:53","modified_gmt":"2014-09-02T17:29:53","slug":"404-medicinal-chases-away-evil-spirits-c-river-akwa-ibom-consumers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=1299","title":{"rendered":"\u2018404\u2019 medicinal, chases away evil spirits \u2013 C-River, Akwa-Ibom consumers"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"dog-meat1\"<\/a>C<\/strong>ALABAR\u2014In<\/strong> some communities in the Niger-Delta, eating dog meat is a taboo, but among the Efiks in Calabar and other tribes in Cross-River and\u00a0\u00a0 Akwa-Ibom States, eating \u2018404\u2019, \u00a0 \u2018J5\u2019, \u2018pepperoni\u2019, among others, as\u00a0\u00a0 dog meat is prevalently known, is a way of life.<\/p>\n

The guzzlers tell you bluntly that it is a delicacy that goes smoothly with beer besides the medicinal and healing power.<\/p>\n

\u2026Know no tribe<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a chat with Niger Delta Voice, <\/em><\/strong>Mr. Ubong Udofia\u00a0\u00a0 who has been in the business of dog meat since 1994,\u00a0\u00a0 said the delicacy knows no tribe as people from different ethnic backgrounds, including Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba, Efik, Ibibio patronize the joint.<\/p>\n

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\u201cOne thing they share in common is the satisfaction they get from consuming the meat, which for some is an everyday affair. We do not in this part see dog meat as a taboo like in some places,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Remedies <\/strong><\/p>\n

Udofia added, \u201cMost people here believe that it cures malaria and other forms of ailments due to the varieties of leaves and other ingredients that we use in preparing it. \u00a0 Truly it works because I and my family\u00a0 have not had malaria in a very long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Preparation<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt takes approximately two hours to prepare the delicacy, I do the killing and butchering, while my wife takes care of the cooking, we add local gin while cooking it to bring out the natural oil from the meat because no other oil is used in the preparation.\u201d \u00a0 Some like it with plantain while some prefer it with rice using the scent leaf as sauce, but I sell at least two dogs every day and sometimes three at weekends,\u201d he asserted.<\/p>\n

In separate exchanges with Niger Delta Voice,<\/em><\/strong> two other dog joint owners, Mr.\u00a0\u00a0 Mbe Akpan \u00a0 \u00a0 at Big Qua Town and at Mr. Etim Edibe Edibe reinforced Ubong\u2019s assertion. They said most people prefer\u00a0 dog\u00a0 to goat meat and beef because of its nutritional and medicinal values and also, because of the way it is prepared with plantain and rice.<\/p>\n

A customer, Ms Edem Awan, who spoke to Niger Delta Voice<\/em><\/strong> said,\u201d I eat it every day because it is very delicious; I particularly like the liver and the head, especially when cooked with plantain pottage.<\/p>\n

King of meat<\/strong><\/p>\n

An Ekpe title holder, \u00a0\u00a0 Chief Okokon Ita, \u00a0 told Niger Delta Voice<\/em><\/strong> that it is like a traditional meat, without which stuffs for most\u00a0\u00a0 traditional ceremonies were definitely incomplete, \u00a0 especially in Efik\u00a0 land, but that there was \u00a0 no voodoo attached to it.<\/p>\n

He asserted,\u201d When someone commits suicide, a dog is used to do spiritual cleansing of the land to prevent the re-occurrence of such bad omen. The dog is used to drive away the evil spirits responsible for such evil happening and it is an age-long tradition among the Efiks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAlso, when a child who is growing up finds it difficult to walk, there is a concoction we make with the bones, we use it to massage the leg of the child and within few weeks, the child will start walking,\u201d said Ita.<\/p>\n

No evidence- Medical experts<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, medical experts say there is no proof whatsoever that dog meat cures malaria. But some said it helps to maintain osmotic blood pressure caused by plasma protein because of the high content of albumin and can also prevent arteriosclerosis (the thickening, hardening and loss of elasticity of the walls of arteries).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  CALABAR\u2014In some communities in the Niger-Delta, eating dog meat is a taboo, but among the Efiks in Calabar and other tribes in Cross-River and\u00a0\u00a0 Akwa-Ibom States, eating \u2018404\u2019, \u00a0 \u2018J5\u2019, \u2018pepperoni\u2019, among others, as\u00a0\u00a0 dog meat is prevalently known, is a way of life. The guzzlers tell you bluntly that it is a delicacy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1300,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-strange-world"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/dog-meat1.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4oswh-kX","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1299"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1301,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1299\/revisions\/1301"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}