bitter-leaf soup
dish / dish-bitterleaf-soup
ビターリーフスープ
Bitter-leaf soup is a soup widely eaten in Nigeria. It uses leaves of Vernonia amygdalina, whose bitterness has been reduced to a preferred level by kneading and washing or by boiling and discarding the water, as a vegetable and flavoring.
Photographs (captions in Japanese)
ビターリーフスープ（Ofe Onugbu）。刻んだ苦味葉野菜を肉と共にパームオイルベースのとろみスープに仕立てた、ナイジェリアの一例。盛り付け・具材構成は家庭・地域により異なる。
料理写っているもの: Vernonia amygdalina（原典が Ofe Onugbu＝ビターリーフスープと記載）部位・状態: 刻んだビターリーフ(Vernonia amygdalina 等)を肉と共に煮込んだ、とろみのあるパームオイルベースのスープ。容器に盛られた状態
写真: Edriiic／ CC BY-SA 4.0／ 原画像／ 台帳の原画像
写真の範囲と来歴
被写体の確認: 原典の記載による同定。原典キャプションは Bitter leaf soup とのみ記載。使用葉種（Vernonia amygdalina 等）の再同定は行っていない。一皿の家庭調理例であり地域の標準形ではない。
掲載画像: Wikimedia Commons の1920px版。苦味研究所では切り抜き・色調変更なし。 表示用には幅1200px上限のWebPを配信し、台帳の原画像は上のリンクから確認できます。
On this page (7 sections)
Reading the bitterness
Bitter-leaf soup uses the leaves of bitter leaf (Vernonia amygdalina), a shrub in the daisy family, as a green vegetable or a flavoring in Nigeria. A 2011 review explicitly states that the leaves are used in Nigerian soups as a green vegetable or spice, particularly as an ingredient in the popular bitter-leaf soup. Because fresh leaves are strongly bitter, they undergo preparation such as kneading and washing before being used in cooking.
In Igbo communities in southeastern Nigeria, soup made with these leaves is also called Onugbu soup and is documented as part of the regional food system. The introductory background of a 2023 food chemistry paper says that this indigenous vegetable soup is eaten not only as an everyday meal but also on special occasions such as weddings, funerals, child dedications, and title-taking ceremonies. However, this account is not an ethnographic study of the culture itself, and it gives no counts of observations for each occasion. It needs to be read as an outline of regional cuisine given as background to a food chemistry paper.
Sources for this overview
Antioxidative and Chemopreventive Properties of Vernonia amygdalina and Garcinia biflavonoid
Checked for this overview: Checked the review's explicit statement that the leaves are used in Nigeria as a green vegetable or spice and as an ingredient in bitter-leaf soup.
Checked for this overview: Checked the background account identifying Onugbu soup as part of the Igbo regional food system. / Checked the background account stating that the soup is eaten at everyday meals and at weddings, funerals, child dedications, and title-taking ceremonies.
Follow the connections
bitter-leaf soup →contains→ bitter leaf →— sensory attribute→ bitterness
bitter-leaf soup →is documented as part of→ Igbo traditional food system
Structured claims — open a section to read each claim's confidence, evidence and limits
How processing and cooking change it (1)
Scope: Nigeria
Show data
dish-bitterleaf-soup —contains→ organism-vernonia-amygdalinaCulture (2)
Scope: The culinary system of southeastern Nigeria
Note: Recorded as onugbu soup.
Show data
dish-bitterleaf-soup —is_documented_as_part_of→ culture-igboScope: Regional food background in the introduction to a 2023 food chemistry paper.
Note: This cultural account was not based on an ethnographic study undertaken specifically to investigate it.
Show data
dish-bitterleaf-soup —is_consumed_in→ "Everyday meals and occasions such as weddings, funerals, child dedications, and title-taking ceremonies."