Sunday, August 30, 2009

They say "You are what you eat"...

It's part of my job description now to do interviews... unfortunately most of the time they're boring and redundant. U get asked the same things over and over again, and it's hard to stay motivated to actually answer the questions. In any case, I got hit up this week with a set of interesting questions by a magazine called "Food and Country". It ended up being kinda fun, so I'm posting 'em here for you incase you want a good read. Enjoy...

FOOD & COUNTRY CELEBRITY QUESTIONNAIRE


1. Do you consider yourself a good cook?
- I have a limited menu that I’m pretty good at, but anything outside of that menu and you’re on your own. As a bachelor you learn how to make certain things just in case, you know, desperate times. I can make a variation of stew, efo riro (I think), pasta and chicken, breakfast food, plantains, and sandwiches. And then there’s the typical easy stuff like boiling rice, eggs, making eba, etc. That’s about it. But those that have tasted my pasta and chicken or my breakfast sandwiches will testify that they are very good. No accounts of food poisoning just yet.

2. What’s your favourite food?
- Any kind of rice with an assortment of chicken or beef.

3. Do you cook it? If yes, describe how.
- I prefer to have it cooked for me. I’m lazy.

4. Favourite drink?
- I drink mostly juice and water. My favorite juice in Nigeria at the moment is Five Alive’s Berry Blast. For a second they took it out of production and I actually ignited a series of complaints with my fans and friends on Facebook, Twitter and my blog (bankyw.blogspot.com). I don’t know if that’s the reason they brought it back, but that’s what we tell ourselves. There’s Berry Blast back on the shelves now so all is well with the world.

5. Favourite restaurants.
- Anywhere they sell rice and chicken/beef in big portions.

6. What’s your idea of good food?
- It’s good if it tastes great and is filling. That’s part of my problem with French Food. It’s not filling. And the one or two French restaurants I’ve been to in the past were also lacking in the taste department.

7. Food you’ve never tried out but would like to?
- I’m open to try just about anything… never gave it much thought. The only thing I’m not into is seafood, much to the chargrin of my mom, because it’s her favorite.

8. Worst culinary blunder.
- This is horrible to admit, but I once set a kitchen stove on fire. I was living in Upstate NY at the time, and I was about to fry plantains to eat with some rice and stew, and then an artiste was appearing on television I really wanted to see… so I left the kitchen and went to watch the tv in my bedroom, not realizing that I’d left the frying pan with oil on the fire… Needless to say the oil over-heated and set the stove ablaze!! I just realized there was thick smoke coming into the hallway… by the time it was said and done the fire department even came. Luckily my landlord was real cool about it, especially because his insurance company gave him a big fat cheque to cover the damage so he actually ended up throwing us a small pizza and beer get together. True story.

9. Funniest joke on food.
- Someone just sent this to me, so please don’t persecute me because I didn’t write it. “Someone went to a Naija Restaurant recently and asked for 5 Wraps of Eba, 2 Meat, 4 Pomo and 3 Yar Adua. The waiter serving asked the customer what he meant by Yar Adua, and the customer responded… Snail.”


10. Strangest food ever eaten.
- I went to a restaurant in Nairobi, Kenya a few years ago called “The Carnivore”. It was set up like the Brazilian all-the-meat-you-can-eat restaurants, except they brought everything from beef and chicken to zebra and alligator. Some of those other types of meat were “interesting”, to say the least.

11. Your position on the World food crisis.
- It’s something we need to pay urgent attention to… and by “we” I mean everyone from the Governments of Countries on downwards. Part of the problem is that in places like the U.S. and Europe, they don’t know what’s really going on because it’s mostly affecting poorer countries in places like Africa. But it’s terrible.

12. What’s vegetarianism to you?
- Torture. Plain and Simple

13. The last time you ate out; where and what did you eat?
- I ate out yesterday at a restaurant in VI, and I had a chicken and mushroom pizza.

14. If you were to eat a ‘last meal’ what would that be?
- I’d rather never be in a position where I have to choose my last meal.

15. Any culinary quirks that describe your person?
- People find it surprising that I’m not much of a sweet tooth. So I’m not into eating cakes, chocolates, candy, etc… And I eat way too much rice for my own good. I eat rice at least once a day (sometimes more). My mother would cringe at my current idea of a “balanced diet”.

16. If you had a opportunity to run a column in a food magazine, would you take it?
- If I did, it would probably be a disservice to the subscribers… I’m not an expert cook, and I’m not nearly knowledgeable enough in the field to offer any enlightening commentary. However, I’m an excellent top-of-the-line consumer.

~ B.W.

24 comments:

Ms. 'dufa said...

Nice Interview. It was actually fun and interesting to read.

bumight said...

funny enough, two days ago i was having a conversation with some of my male friends about cooking. I said, "im not asking for a chef, but i want a man that if i make efo he can make eba;
if i cook stew, he can make rice, etc
then everyone'll be happy!

Miss Enigma said...

Interesting interview!
U'll soon start growing grains of rice on ur head...lol

chayomao said...

Interesting interview.
*CHOCOHOLIC* right here
Please tell me u atleast incorporate veggies into ya rice-y daily meals?
No i am not vegetarian...thank you

Admin said...

Nice interview,love the way you told them your style

Sassy Trends said...

**Wooooaaaaaaaaaaah** Yaradua na the new name for snail now?!!!
Are you sure someone sent this to you or you got it frm your head?

Hahhhhhhhh! banky you are on your own oooo.

Nee Fe Mi said...

lol @ Yar'adua..... interesting interview

HUMDINGER said...

nice interview.d yar adua=snail part ws ril hilarious...n u coulda tryd d diff. types of meat at the carnivore.sum of 'em r kinda nice.sum taste lyk crap tho...im a 9jirian studyn in nairobi so i know.

Banky W said...

@humdinger: I ate every type of meat they brought out.. just didn't wanna list out all of them. Ur right some were great, some were horrible.

@bumight: "can" being the operative word... i *can* make rice or eba, if there's soup or stew. However I probably won't want to :o)

@chayoma: If i said yes I'd be lying. But I'm working on it. Rome wasn't built in a day.

@ all snail references: I didn't come up with the joke i promise. It's been circulating amongst blackberry users for a couple weeks, couldn't resist posting it here.

@ errybody: thanx :o)~

bumight said...

can is good. cos there will be days when you wont want to, but you'll have to in order not to starve!

Monday's Child said...

interesting questions! and original answers too. Lol! about not choosing a last meal. I might have given it a thought once or twice though (my idea of hell is dying thirsty... so whenever i get to procrastinating about getting hydrated, i imagine that and promptly get to it)

people can't understand why chocolates, cakes and icecream arent on my best-things-since-sliced-bread list; I'm glad to find someone feels the same. And you are so on point about berry blast.

AbsolutelyAfrican said...

yardua snail part made my night - too funny. interesting interview btw.

wienna said...

wow...i'm glad that they now have a magazine in naija that deals with food, instead of the usual fashion, beauty stuff etc. Nice & interesting interview.

Heather said...

I just passed your old house the other day... the one that you almost torched to the ground! Did you know our high school reunion is set for Dec. 26?

Anonymous said...

most original interview yet...with this and the Reuben Abati piece and this, i give u a Seven Star *******!!!...lol

Sisto said...

Banky W,dont mean to trouble u but is this really u???

olaoluwatomi said...

Almost choked with laughter on the yar adua equivalent! Really hilarious, nice video on strong tin, where was it shot?

Sasylicious! said...

nice one there bro.....didn't know dis side of u existed......and i hope there's a lot more to u dan d screens advertize......

Miss M said...

ooo nice...Berry Blast is my fav drink in naij.

U shud come down north n taste the food there...

Adekemisola said...

Really nice interview...couldn't resist smiles.
did i read "i'm lazy"?...ya ryt! wiv all 'em songs...
sure i'm ur biggest fan buh narrowly missed a photo session with u when u 'stormed' my office (Stv).
nice blog though. good to know there are people who think in that direction.

Lollux said...

Ur interview was very nice and fun to read.
I visited Kenya once and did have the heart to eat all the meat they brought. I was only very adventurous with "the camel" which i found so hard to swallow.

JOB said...

king of R&B KING BANK W PIEASE KEEP IT UP

Anonymous said...

mr capable s'up iz ya boi x-claxy like ya bebz

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