Eshu at the table

The Yoruba meal is not divided into starter-main-dessert. It is organized around a pounded or cooked starch (iyán, pounded yam; àmàlà; èkuru) that you take with your hand and dip into a thick soup (obè) bound with red palm oil and ground seeds. Around it revolve fried street snacks (the domain of Eshu, guardian of crossroads), fermented drinks, and, separately, offerings placed on the altar that belong only to the god.

Pressed from the fruit of the oil palm, scarlet and velvety, it colors and binds almost every Yoruba soup. It is also Eshu's primary offering: it is poured at crossroads to soften his temper. Its altar cousin, golden oil, and fermented locust bean (iru) are its umami companions.