Nigeria – NG011A
Composition: Mixed
Colour: White
Shape: Shaped
Hard, gummy texture, sticks to the teeth, smokey taste, can feel like earth candy.
This sample was obtained by masharu and Mila Blok during a field trip to Nigeria in Idumota International Market in Lagos in March 2019. We were guided through the market by Nneca Celine, a Nigerian edible earth expert. Efun was sold along with other Nigerian local edible clays, such as nzu and ulo. However, we learned that efun is more used spiritually than for eating.
According to online resources, efun is a white chalk that is made of ground snail shell and white clay. It is used in rituals, especially in relation with the Orishas, divine spirits of the Yoruba religion. The effect of Efun is considered cooling, regulating and calming, with the benefit of protection from negative or ‘hot’ spiritual energies. Efun also symbolizes peace, a silent power. It is sometimes associated with cascarilla, an equivalent spiritual white clay-chalk used in South America. Researchers argue that the use of the white clay-chalk for spiritual purpose was brought to South America through the trade of enslaved people from Western Africa. The cascarilla would then be a descendant of the efun.
The trip of the Museum of Edible Earth to Nigeria was carried out with help and support of Creative Industries Fund NL, African Artists’ Foundation and Ene Keze Arts And Advocacy Foundation.
Sources:
● ‘Efun’, Yoruba imports (English), accessed on 16/06/2022 yorubaimports.ecwid.com
● ‘The arms of Ifa / How, what, why, who, when?”, Independent Ifa Practitioners, by Brenda Beek (English), accessed on 16/06/2022 www.facebook.com
Tastes like a sticky candy. Grey smooth clay gum floating in your tongue, slightly disappears in a minute.
Дымчаты / smoky
Not dry. Big sand grain. Soft with some crunch. I can only taste clay. Smell of cave. Foggy
Essa foi uma experiencia unica, sua aprencia e de biscoito de queijo tendo uma textura um pouco mais amena e nao tao agressiva ao paladar. Realmente foi diferente, sabe, nosso cerebro nos engana afinal a aparencia e uma, despertando um sentimento de familiridade mas com um sabor totalmente diferente do esperado.