There is a spoon in every Nigerian kitchen that has tasted every pot since 1998. It is the "taste spoon." Your mother stirs the stew, lifts the spoon, blows on it, tastes it, and returns the spoon to the pot. She does this seventeen times before the food is ready. She is not contaminating the stew; she is perfecting it. The taste spoon is a scientific instrument. It measures salt, spice, and thickness. The blowing technique—fu-fu-fu—is universal. The facial expression after tasting determines the next steps. If she frowns, more seasoning. If she nods, dinner is close. And the offer! "Come and taste this." You approach. She holds the spoon to your mouth like you're a child, even though you're thirty. You taste. You say "it's nice" even if it's too salty, because disagreeing means another twenty minutes of adjustments. Does your mother still use the communal taste spoon? And have you inherited this cooking habit?
