For the sake of our foreign readers, Suya is a northern Nigerian street food. And you can take this to the bank, it’s a total tongue delight, that really bangs! 

Suya is traditionally grilled meat on naked fire, this fire merely barricaded by a grill grate or other similar substitute.

Now what makes Suya such a tongue delight is not just the meat, but the spice!! The spice we speak of lovelies is a perfect mix of peanut, garlic and onion powder, smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, hot ground pepper, white pepper and other things. Now read through this, why won’t it taste so nice?!

The above paragraph is why so many west Africans and Nigerians love Suya so much. And even though you tell them a million times that it’s unhealthy, they will never listen to you, they have coconut head and that includes me.

But is Suya actually unhealthy? Well yes it is. How so? Fasten your seat belt, grab your popcorn and I will show you quickly what you’re taking into your body. 🤌🤌

1. Suya causes cancer

This is a very controversial topic as most people have claimed it to be false but well, it’s not the meat itself that causes the disease, the preparation process pollutes it. How? 

Seasoned research by various health organization including WHO has shown that grilling meat over naked fire like they do with suya, produces toxic compounds which causes cancer. 

In addition to this, it has been pointed out that most suya vendors make use of all sorts as coal to light up the fire used in grilling the meat. Plastic, kerosene, Nylon you name it. All of which produces carcinogenic compounds. 

You can read about the chemical complexities of how suya causes cancer here. 

2. High cholesterol 

Oh well aunty Amara, Suya is bad for your weight loss and fit-fam journey dear. The meal is essentially made with red meat which is renowned for having more saturated fat and oil than white meat. High consumption of red meat has been linked to some of the most dreadful ailment like type-2 diabetes, heart diseases, obesity and so on. Therefore, it’s best eaten with veggies.

3. It is often prepared under unhygienic conditions

Have you seen these guys at their suya spot? Have you seen the thick black dirt underneath their nail beds? How they sneeze, wipe their sweat off their faces, clean their hands on their very dirty apron and go right back to slicing the suya you ordered.😩

There’s also the risk of one eating nearly spoilt meat. One time, I spotted a fat maggot on the meat a vendor was selling. Also I don’t think they ever wash the grill grate, because they are always rusty and sticky.

However, the Nigerian fast food is not unhygienic when you make it in your own house, by yourself. But you never know what you’re eating if you get it out there. Yet, we won’t rule out the fact that there are still some trustworthy, clean Suya vendors out there, I guess you just have to be the judge.

Read also: Ballon D’or 2021: Kitchen Equipments Edition

After talking about all this, do you think I’ll stop eating that sweetness?? No way!! Because most of what we mentioned can be avoided through extra care and proper hygiene. Which is why you should subscribe to our website so you don’t miss my next article, where I’ll be writing on how to prepare healthy home-made sooyah and subsequently telling you the different meals you can eat with suya spices. 

So lovelies, I’m off to have Garri and Suya for lunch.

Ciao for now!😌❤️

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