BRN IGNITE Grant project aims to preserve traditional Yorùbá recipes
Growing up in the city of Ijebu-Ode in Ogun State, Nigeria, Adébísí Ògún learned to cook traditional Yorùbá dishes at her paternal grandmother’s side, memorizing recipes passed down through observation.
In Yoruba culture, food is intertwined with spirituality, with each ingredient often connected to the Òrìshàs, deities in Yorùbá religious practice, offered in respect, gratitude or to seek guidance. Ògún absorbed these traditions early, and her mother, who owned a restaurant, reinforced her appreciation for Yoruba cuisine.
“All of my passion for cooking comes from my grandma, my mom and watching people in the community. It was all look-and-learn and paying attention to when ingredients go in and how the dish comes together,” says Ògún, who moved to Toronto in 2012 from the United States.
Ògún is now sharing her knowledge with Assistant Professor Samuel Akinbo and Associate Professor Suzi Oliveira De Lima of the department of linguistics in the Faculty of Arts & Science. Their BRN IGNITE Grant–funded project links linguistic research with the documentation of traditional dishes in Ghana and Nigeria, preserving culinary knowledge closely tied to cultural and spiritual practices.
The project records the preparation of traditional foods and examines the grammar of counting and measuring in Gã and Yorùbá. Akinbo, a phonologist, and Lima, a semanticist, are studying how speakers talk about food and quantity while building an archive of recipes traditionally passed down orally.
“Food is universal; it opens the door to conversations,” says Akinbo, who is of Yorùbá heritage. “Our goal isn’t just to illustrate concepts like counting or iconicity; we want the work to have real social impact.”
Many of these dishes are now endangered, partly due to early missionary linguists and colonial anthropologists who labeled practices as “paganism.”
“When you eat these foods, you’re linked to your origins and the traditions behind them,” Ògún explains. “It’s not just a meal; it’s meaning.”
Ògún made ẹ̀fọ́ rírò, a leafy green stew prepared primarily with dandelion, known as ẹ̀fọ́ yánrin in Yorùbá. Dandelion is connected to Ọ̀sun, the Òrìṣà of fertility and beauty,because of its ability to grow in any conditions from wind-dispersed seeds. She also made ekuru, a steamed bean cake linked to Yemọja, the patron of women, and àmàlà, made from dried yam flour and associated with Sàngó, the Òrìṣà of thunder and justice. Devotees show reverence by offering foods believed to be the deities’ favourites.
Lima explains that everyday cooking involves quantifying ingredients, and language often mirrors these actions. Repetition of an ingredient’s name, for instance, can signal actual quantity, known as iconicity. Students are also annotating gestures to track how speakers use their hands to express amounts and processes.
“In semantics, we look at how people structure meaning. Recipes reveal these patterns very naturally,” Lima says. “By documenting them, we’re not only capturing grammaticalaspects of counting and measuring in a natural context, but also preserving knowledge that will be meaningful for the African diaspora.”
Thinking about the next generation
Akinbo emphasizes that preserving links between food and religion is essential. During his fieldwork, he found that participants often didn’t know which ingredients were tied to specific Orishas.
“The foods that remain common are often the ones whose cultural context has faded,” Akinbo says. “People may eat them without knowing the traditions they come from.”
Ògún says this disconnect can be even sharper in the diaspora.
“As someone in the diaspora, it’s important we don’t let these recipes get lost,” Ògún says. “When I make these dishes, my children learn them and will pass them on. Food, music, language and religion are interconnected; when food disappears, other parts of our culture disappear with it.”
The project team is developing a website to archive videos, recipes and annotations.
Collaborating with Yorùbá community members in Toronto and working with researchers, research assistants and undergraduate students at the University of Toronto and in Nigeria, the project fosters cross-continental learning while helping to preserve regional cuisines. The team receives training as they contribute to transcription and annotation.
Partners include Nigeria’s University of Ibadan and the University of Lagos, with plans to expand to Ghana.
“The BRN IGNITE Grant was fundamental to this project,” Lima says. “It allowed us to support participants and students, buy equipment and ingredients, and build a collaborative project that empowers communities.”
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