Kola nut: hospitality and ritual in West Africa

The kola nut is the seed of the kola tree, which grows in the rainforests of West Africa. There are two important species: Cola nitida, whose nuts split into two parts, and Cola acuminata, whose nuts have three to six parts. The nuts contain caffeine and theobromine, and chewing them drives away tiredness and hunger.

Kola nuts have been an important trade product for centuries. They were carried north from the forest zone, including the land of the Asante in present-day Ghana: to the Hausa cities in present-day Nigeria and beyond, across the Sahara. Because Islam forbids alcohol but not kola, the nut became a beloved stimulant in the Sahel and North Africa.

The trade was large and well organised. Caravans of porters and donkeys carried the nuts, which had to be kept moist so they would not dry out, over great distances.

In many West African cultures the kola nut is a symbol of hospitality, peace and respect. Offering a guest a kola nut means welcoming them. Sharing it means togetherness.

Among the Igbo in Nigeria, breaking the kola nut is an important ritual. The eldest or most distinguished person present blesses the nut, breaks it and shares it out. A well-known Igbo saying goes: he who brings kola brings life.

The nut also plays a role at special moments: marriage proposals, naming ceremonies, reconciliations and funerals. Among the Yoruba the four-lobed kola nut is used in divination, reading how the pieces fall.

Knowledge of kola is community knowledge. Everyone knows how to receive a guest, and elders know how the ritual should be performed and which words go with it.

Traders, growers and market women know the varieties, the qualities and the ways to keep nuts fresh. The kola trade is a craft, with its own networks going back generations.

Divination with kola requires the knowledge of a priest or initiate, who knows how to read the falling lobes.

An important book on the kola trade is Caravans of Kola by the historian Paul Lovejoy, from 1980, about the Hausa trade between 1700 and 1900.

Kola also appears in West African literature. In Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, from 1958, the kola nut is shared during a visit, and the blessing that goes with it shows how ordinary and how important this ritual is.

The nut’s international fame came with the soft drink. In 1886 the American pharmacist John Pemberton used kola extract in a drink that was named Coca-Cola.

Kola nuts are still chewed, shared and offered in West Africa, in towns and villages. Nigeria is one of the largest producers.

Kola nuts are often present at weddings, funerals and official gatherings. They are sold at markets, often wrapped in leaves to keep them moist.

Modern soft drinks usually no longer contain real kola. The name recalls the origin.

The kola nut is the seed of Cola nitida and Cola acuminata, trees of the tropical rainforest. The nuts are red, pink or white, and taste bitter at first and sweetish later.

Alongside kola, bitter kola (Garcinia kola) is often offered too, a different seed with a strongly bitter taste that belongs to hospitality and ceremonies and is also used as a folk remedy for coughs.

Kola grows together with cacao, oil palms and other trees in the forest zone of West Africa.

The kola nut is more than a product. Whoever is offered one takes part in a gesture of hospitality. Accept it gratefully, even if you do not eat it.

Kola nuts contain caffeine. Chewing a lot can cause sleeplessness, palpitations and stomach complaints, and stain the teeth.