Nigerian entrepreneur turns local crops into gluten-free pasta

LAGOS, Aug 17 (Reuters) – Renee Chuks, a skilled chef, began experimenting with making pasta from cassava in her Lagos kitchen throughout a nationwide lockdown in Nigeria in 2020 in the course of the coronavirus pandemic.

She makes use of domestically grown crops like cassava and plantain to supply hand-made pasta infused with herbs, which she now sells by way of her firm, Aldente Africa, arrange two years in the past.

Aldente Africa is among the many first corporations to make gluten-free pasta in Nigeria, she says. The nation is likely one of the world’s largest producers of cassava, a root vegetable wealthy in minerals and Vitamin C, and Chuks believes Africa ought to make extra use of its domestically grown crops to assist enhance meals safety on the continent.

“We regarded inward to love, what sort of merchandise now we have that we eat day by day. Cassava is one in every of our main, main merchandise … so we figured let’s begin with that, if we’re in a position to get good success with cassava then every thing else will observe,” Chuks advised Reuters from her firm’s base in Lagos.

She additionally makes use of plantain and fonio, a small grain crop grown in West Africa, which she infuses with native herbs and greens, giving a few of her pasta a inexperienced or pinkish tint.

Her merchandise monitor a worldwide development towards plant-based meals. Full with elegant packaging and retailing at US$2-US$5 per pack of pasta, they cater to a comparatively prosperous shopper for now.

Wheat-based pasta is a staple meals in Nigeria and Chuks sees loads of room for progress available in the market for her different merchandise, which she sells on-line and in well being outlets. Her firm additionally produces alcoholic wines constituted of hibiscus plant and herbs for cooking.

Further reporting by Seun Sanni, Enhancing by MacDonald Dzirutwe and Susan Fenton

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