Roadside corn roasters ruling the ‘roast’

The Western world may pride itself in the production of millions of hectares of grain, including maize or corn, but when it comes to popular enjoyment, their populations sure have so much to learn from Africans in general and Cameroonians in particular.

The first time Western visitor to Cameroon is almost always very fascinated by the manner in which fresh corn is parched and eaten straight from the stalk. Most of them go for it and enjoy it, because, simply put, it is a delicacy.

The Southwest Region, especially, is blessed with acres upon acres of corn plantations. They are all year round and provide food in different forms and tastes to millions.

The same thing obtains in the West and Northwest Regions, where corn fufu, a derivative of corn is the staple. The difference of course, is that whereas the crop is seasonal here, it is farmed all year round, in most parts of the Southwest, especially in Fako Division with rich, volcanic soil. At this time of the year, one is wont to see sprawling hectares of the grain as one drives along the West and Northwest Regions of Cameroon.

To the inhabitants of this part of the country, it is the staple food, especially when it is converted to corn flour and eaten with vegetable soups. But the locally brewed corn beer or “nkang”/”sha” is also made from corn. It is prepared by the women folk and drunk by the male folk.

But this would do mostly for the Northwest Region. Down south in the coastal Southwest Region, most of the corn that is produced here is roasted, by the roadside, where passers-by of every imaginable social strata stop by to pick up for an affordable amount and eat. But who does the roasting and what goes into this business that has over the years become so popular?

From our investigations, the roasting of maize by the roadsides is mostly carried out by middle-aged women, mostly as a way of eking out a living. While a few of them actually cultivate the crop, others buy from big time farmers. Roast and sell. They must buy reasonable amounts of charcoal, know when to target their customers and at what peak periods. But when sometimes prevailing weather conditions dictate, they are in for bad business.

Molyko, is, without doubt, the business hub of Buea. It has a strong student population that serves as a kind of social osmosis, whereby, many other classes of people are attracted to the area. The roasting empire strives here, especially in the evenings.

At this time of the year, (rainy season) when the plums are black and attractive the corn roasting business strives most.

As earlier indicated, to some sellers, it is a permanent activity because they go to the West Coast of Limbe in the heart of the dry season to procure maize, while to others it is an activity practised only when the crop is grown in and around Buea.

As far as maize business is concerned, all those involved have different views about where they get their supply from. Some of the women engaged in the corn business are farmers and according to some of them corn can be available at any time of the year. Most of the people engaged in the business get their supply from some farmers on regular bases.

The quantity sold in a day differs from one person to another. From what The Post got on the field, the amount of corn bought for a day varies from 2000 to 5000 francs and it goes with charcoal for 2000, 1500 and 800 francs respectively.

Most of those who roast and sell corn agreed on the fact that it is suitable to buy or harvest maize in the morning, just few hours before roasting it. As they explained, this is because when corn stays overnight, it can’t be as sweet as that harvested a few hours before roasting. Like any other business, corn sellers along the streets do incur losses when all of the roasted ones are not sold.

Cinorieta Nagai, a youth says she always shares the remaining stock with her neighbours. Isabel Nyarka takes back the unsold corn for family consumption. Although there is the risk of not selling all the corn, many people are engaged in the business as a lot of profits are realized most of the time.

They could make quite tidy profits sometimes. But not when they are being harassed and ordered to quit the roadsides by local council authorities. The profits realized from the trade, we learnt, goes into paying fees and meeting up with other family and personal needs.

Youths, who in most cases are students, use the profits realized to buy school needs and keep part of it as school fees. Most women, whether married or single save their profits in private accounts or in tontines for various uses.

Besides being harassed by council authorities, most of them are expected to pay a kind of tax referred to as rents or “frontage” tax to their various landlords. Most of the ladies we spoke to are in this business as a way of helping their spouses to meet up with the hard economic circumstances. As they confided in The Post, they wish for something better than corn roasting if it was for them to make a choice.

Whatever the case, these roadside roasters could be said to rule the “roast” if one were to go by the fact of the long queues of across the board customers lining up to buy their wares.