Friday’s Google Doodle spotlights jollof rice, a typical West African dish whose roots may be traced again seven centuries that is sparked fierce rivalries amongst neighboring nations.
The dish — a combination of lengthy grained rice blended with simmered tomatoes, onions, peppers and regional spices — is usually served with fish because the night meal, though it is also loved at different occasions of the day, with fish being substituted for rooster, beef or goat. Friday’s animated Doodle exhibits the favored one-pot meal being ready, one ingredient at a time, together with the specified central meat.
The dish’s identify and origins stretch again to the 14th century, when the Jollof Empire dominated components of modern-day Senegal, The Gambia and Mauritania. It’s also referred to as benachin in Gambia and Senagal.
Each nation has its personal variant of the dish, with every nation vying to be generally known as house to one of the best jollof in a pleasant rivalry amongst nations generally known as the Jollof Wars. The competitors is especially sticky and steamy between Nigerians and Ghanaians, which have distinct cooking kinds, making a cultural phenomenon that is spawned many viral music movies, songs and cook-offs.
This is not the primary time Google has put meals within the Doodle highlight. In 2017, Google cooked up a slideshow to honor the rice noodle. In 2019, it created an animated Doodle that includes falafel. And in 2021, Google celebrated pho, the fragrant and savory soup made well-liked in Vietnam.
But for those who would somewhat play along with your meals than examine it, Google baked up an interactive pizza puzzle recreation final yr that challenges your slicing abilities.