Suya

Dear Lovers of Suya, smoked fish and Boli, this is specially dedicated to you.

Smoking according to Wikipedia is the process of flavouring, browning, cooking, or preserving food by exposing it to smoke from burning or smoldering material, most often wood, sometimes coal.

It originally started out as a preservation method in the stone age before its other uses were discovered.

Several foods are made using this technique. There is characteristic taste that comes with smoking, grilling, barbecuing or roasting a food over direct heat which might not be gotten through any other cooking technique.
Hence, its possible addiction.

Lots of times, smoking goes hand in hand with curing (The practice of generously adding salt or sugar to food, or soaking in brine, most times meats and fish before smoking or roasting, as the case may be)

When smoking is combined with roasting, it is commonly referred to as "barbecuing", in simple terms.

Trees are made up of lignin, cellulose, hemicellulose and lots more. Different trees contain these in varying amounts. Owing to this, there is a special flavour that comes from the smoke of each wood from these Trees. This might make the smoked food taste differently in spite of using the same spices and flavourings.

Fruits, cheese, vegetables, meats, fish etc can be prepared in different styles through smoking. There is the hot smoking and the cold smoking likewise.

As much as smoked foods are a delight, there is a price to be paid if they are consumed frequently.

During smoking, Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons are released during wood smoking. They are carcinogenic and have been linked to Stomach Cancer and more recently, Breast Cancer. Same with the nitrates and nitrites that are released as the byproducts of Nitrosamines.

There is also a high chance of suffering food poisoning through bacteria contamination through the intake of the smoked foods.
In actual facts, not all the foods get to be properly cooked and rid of Bacteria.

In addition, smoked foods are usually quite spiced and salted.
This means a greater consumption of Sodium because of the salt and Monosodium Glutamate(MSG) through the spices and seasonings. The higher the Sodium, the higher the electrolyte imbalance and the greater the risk of a High Blood Pressure, even though excess sodium intake is not the only precipitating factor.
MSG on the other hand has been argued as a carcinogen.

So if you are an addicted lover of foods that are prepared with one form of smoke or the other, please, cruelly break the heart of your cravings to save your own heart.

Routine detoxification is advised as well as an increased consumption of foods rich in antioxidants. Examples are Dark green leafy Vegetables and fruits, White and purple Vegetables say Cabbage for example either the purple or the white/green coloured one, orange-coloured potatoes, Oranges, Green Tea, Berries and even Dark Chocolates (You know that one that tastes bitter and terribly unsweetened, not Snickers, Mars KitKat, Toblerone or the likes o)

Ginger, Garlic, Cinnamon and Tumeric are also lifesavers. You can use them as condiments or make drinks out of them.

Please take good care of your health.