Porridge is a warm breakfast cereal akin to Gambian cuisine. Health experts unanimously agreed that eating porridge has a lot of health and nutritional benefits. British nutritionist Kevin Rail once wrote that eating porridge helps people to regulate their appetite because whole grains and whole-grain derivatives have a high amount of dietary fiber. This substance helps fill you up, which prevents you from overeating.
If you do not overeat, you will maintain or even lose weight. Fiber also helps keep blood-sugar levels on an even keel and reduces the risk for high cholesterol. Porridge also gives energy; helps recover tired muscles, develop strong bones and boost your immunity.
Porridge is a staple food in Gambia and one village in particular, Jaali, is known to be great porridge eaters. Though the origin of porridge continues to be clogged in mystery, most people credited the village of Jaali in the Kiang West District of the Lower River Region for the beginning of the dish. Today, the name porridge in The Gambia is synonymous to Jaali. Legend has it that in Jaali, the three square meals of the day used to be porridge and a result it has earned the local parlance “Jaali Mono” (meaning Jaali Porridge).
“Even if “Mono” doesn’t originate from Jali, its tradition can be traced to the village because we are known for it and moreover throughout my wide research about the history of Jaali, I have never come across a claim that “Mono” originated from anywhere else aside from here,” Lamin Metanding Drammeh, a religious leader and native of Jaali told me.
Jaali is some 155 kilometres away from Banjul, The Gambia’s capital, and a three-hour drive via the South Bank. The community of Jaali is said to be some 800 years old. The name of the community, JALI, sources say was derived from a Mandinka phrase ‘Kuli-Jah-Leh’, meaning a lake where people hang leather. The community acquired this name from foundation owing to the activities of the founders. According to sources, the founder of the community of Jaali was a hunter and near his hunting site was a lake; it was near this lake that he always spread his hunting garments which included leather from animal skin. Little did he know at the time that this isolated hunting site would become his home. People at the time began referring to the lake in their Mandinka parlance as ‘Kuli-Jah-Leh’ (a lake which is used to spread leather) and when the site became a habitation for the hunter and people began enjoying the treasures of the new home, they began calling it Jaali, a short form of ‘Jah-Leh’.
The routes of the founding of the community can be traced as far as Sunna Karantaba in the Cassamance region of Senegal. It was from this village that a hunter named Massi Samateh set out on a lone journey in the search for the treasures of life; a journey that brought him to the Kiang valley of The Gambia. Upon entrance into the Kiang Valley, Massi Samateh acquired sanctuary at Jamari from where he continued his hunting expedition. It did not take long before the hunter fell in love with his new hunting site, a site known by the indigenes as Masi Sita. He then made a request to his Jamari hosts to grant him the land that hosts hunting site for settlement; a request that without any reservation received the stamp of approval. Massi Samateh then began erecting the pillars for his new settlement and stayed on it alone until his brother, Janneh Drammeh whom he left behind in Sunna Karantaba also followed his routes to locate him, a move that lead to the establishment of the settlement of Jaali. The two brothers together triggered the expansion and development of the community.
Sources advanced that this Janneh was an Islamic scholar and when he locate his brother Massi who by then was a Soninke both settled not far from each other. Massi’s children sources went on, enjoy when Janneh’s children are reciting the Holy Quran and at one point asked their father if they can also learn the songs their brothers sing. Their father did not reject the request Janneh made sure that all the children were able to learn the Quran. Soon Massi abandoned his isolated settlement of Massi Sita to join his younger brother at Jaali. By this time, Janneh already built a Mosque where he used to pray with his family. And since Massi’s children can now recite the Quran, they were converted to Islam and the first son was made imam whilst Janneh himself maintained the alkaloship.
The children of Massi and Janneh intermarried, leading to the growth of the village’s population. The main occupation of Jalikans was hunting and farming and these will be critical in the beginning of the “Jali Mono”. The story of Demba the missing hunter is still narrated in Jali several centuries after the actual event took place. He was said to have gone hunting and didn’t return after a day’s work on his farm and as a result, a search party was dispatched after the village talking drum announced his disappearance. Youths of the village were mobilised to locate him and they armed themselves with sacred charms, axes and spears to defend themselves from unexpected attacks and wild animals. When Demba was found, he was already packing his booty he looted from the bees and set on going home. He had to wait until dark to use a fire to plunder the bees while at the same time escape the deadly sting of the killer bees.
Animal husbandry is also very akin to Jaali and as the village continues to expand exponentially with the arrival of more people, sources said at one point in time, almost every household has a herd to its name. In the mornings, the herdsmen will go to the herds to milk the cows and because of the large quantity of herds at the time, fresh cow milk became abundant in the village to an extent that in the evening, villagers threw the milk away because they had enough of it. “So because there was milk in abundance with the supply far exceeding the demand, the people decided against throwing food away and asked each other to come up with an alternative use of the milk. They unanimously agreed that they will prepare a dish that can be eaten with the milk and that was how they started to cook “Mono”, Lamin Metanding Drammeh further intimated.
“However, at the time, there was no sugar available to sweeten the “Mono” but any generation one lives in, its people must have a way to go about it. So because honey is another tradition of Jaali, they decided to use that to sweeten the “Mono” by allowing both the honey and porridge to boil and prepared slowly until a thick consistency is reached. When it is done, the cooking pot will be withdrawn from the fire by allowing the porridge to cool a little before they can pour milk on it and serve for breakfast.”
When preparing the porridge, you combine the grains and water. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to a simmer and cook covered; you cook until all the grains are tender. The people of Jaali decided that they should give a new name to their latest dish and because it takes lesser time to prepare, they gave it the name “Mono”, a short name for the word “Akamono” (meaning it can ripe easily.)
“There are five different types of “Mono”. You have what you call “Tiyakerr Churo”, where you mix rice grain with peanuts; “Yerenke Mono” by pounding coos grain and later make it into small particles; “Chura Koyo”, by allowing rice grain to boil until it form porridge particles in the pot; “Jisuma Mono” (it is originally called “Duma Mono” because you boil water and pour it on coos grain) and “Bero” where you boil water and pour it on rice grain. The family name is what is called “Mono”, Drammeh added.
According to Ousman Barrow, another native of Jaali, the reason why Jaali was added to the beginning of the word “Mono” had to do with its display of cultural diversity during a traditional competition held in the administrative capital of the region, Mansa Kokno. At that competition, the various villages of the region were asked to prepare their traditional dishes and Jaali as customary prepared a delicious “Mono”.
“At the same time, they slaughtered a goat which was cooked and stored in a safe place and then waited for everyone to gather. So when everyone gathered, they just pulled the head of the goat and dip it into the porridge and were straight away given the winners’ prize, then everyone shouted “Jaali Mono ye forse ta”, meaning “Jaali Mono” has taken first,” Barrow added.
Before Barrow even completed his final line, Drammeh intervened to rebuke the claims, and jokingly said that it was their cousins from the opposite side of the river (Tankular) that decided to make a traditional joke of it. Whether that is or not the case, Jaali has deservedly earned itself the credit of the beginning of porridge in the region and their invention is today consumed by most households in the country.
By Baboucarr Camara
