A Nigerian delicacy, egusi, is making history as it is set to become the first West African food to be launched into space as part of a global scientific mission exploring how regional cuisines behave in microgravity.
Founder of Space in Africa, Temidayo Oniosun, shared details of the mission on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief, speaking live from Cape Canaveral, Florida—just outside NASA’s Kennedy Space Center—where the launch is set to take place.
Initially scheduled for Thursday, the launch was postponed due to weather and is now expected to happen today at around 4: 45 pm, Nigerian time.
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The mission involves sending egusi into orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon rocket, in an experiment that combines science, culture, and diplomacy.
Oniosun said, “It’s also more than a symbolic gesture, you know it represents the bold step to preparing humanity for life as an interplanetary species”.
He explained that the goal of the mission was to study how African food products behave in space conditions, particularly in microgravity, as the global conversation expands around space exploration, lunar bases, and eventually colonising other planets.
“The whole essence of this is so that, you know, in the future, we can actually eat African food in outer space”, he said.
The experiment also includes monitoring agricultural seeds from Nigeria to observe how space conditions affect their genetic composition, respiration, and overall health.
“There have been a lot of experiments on a lot of Western food in space, but it is the first time that we have something specifically from West Africa going into space”, Oniosun added.
Why Egusi
Describing egusi as a culturally significant dish across Nigeria, he noted that several regions can lay claim to its origins, making it the perfect representation of Nigerian identity in space.
“I don’t think there’s a better dish that says, ‘ See, I’m Nigerian ‘ than egusi”.
It speaks more of Nigeria than anything else, “he said.
Beyond the lab, the initiative is also a powerful tool for what Oniosun called” agricultural diplomacy”—using local food to engage communities and demystify space science.
” People heard that they are sending food, especially egusi, something they eat every day, and when people heard that, they could connect to this, they can see space is not out of reach for them. If egusi can go to space, you know, so can they, “he said.
Oniosun described the launch as the first phase of a broader plan to include more Nigerian and African elements in future space missions.
Source: Channels TV
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