What’s in a Wrap? Let's Rethink Portion Sizes in African Meals
Food tracking only works if it reflects reality. Most nutrition apps assume precision tools: scales, barcodes, factory labels. That breaks down in African kitchens, where measuring sticks are wraps, ladles, nylon bags, and your palm.
So what is a wrap of eba in grams? What’s the fat content of two ladles of egusi? These aren’t just culinary questions — they’re problems of definition, quantification, and cultural translation.
At NuWell, we don’t treat these questions as edge cases. We treat them as the core of African nutrition tracking.
Start From First Principles: What Is a Portion?
A portion isn’t a guess. It’s a fixed sum of nutrients derived from ingredients, cooked forms, and local context.
At NuWell, a portion is calculated as:
The total gram weight of all ingredients in a typical serving of a specific meal.
For example, a standard “wrap” of pounded yam weighs ~280g, not because someone said so, but because that's the measured average from household prep across 10+ cooking sessions.
Example: What’s In One Serving of Egusi Soup?
Ingredients (per person):
- 80g ground egusi
- 10g red palm oil
- 1 piece goat meat (~90g cooked)
- 1 ladle spinach (~70g cooked)
- Pepper mix, stock, seasoning (~50g)
Total weight: ~300g
Calorie estimate: ~600–650 kcal
- Egusi alone: ~400+ kcal
- Palm oil: ~90–120 kcal
- Protein + greens: balance
When NuWell logs “1 serving of Egusi Soup,” it reflects this sum.
What Is a “Wrap”? It’s Not a Shape, It’s a Weight
| Meal | Typical Wrap Size | Average Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Eba (garri) | 1 wrap | ~270–300g |
| Amala | 1 wrap | ~250g |
| Semovita | 1 wrap | ~280–310g |
| Pounded yam | 1 wrap | ~280–350g |
So if someone eats two wraps of eba, they’ve likely consumed over 500g of carbohydrate-heavy food — ~450–600 kcal before soup.
Non-Wrap Examples: Ladles, Pieces, Cups
| Format | Food | Typical Weight |
|---|---|---|
| 1 ladle | Ogbono soup | ~180–220g |
| 1 cup | Cooked white rice | ~200g |
| 1 tbsp | Red palm oil | 13.6g (~120 kcal) |
| 1 piece | Fried chicken thigh | 100–120g |
| 1 serving | Jollof + beef + dodo | ~550g (~750–900 kcal) |
These formats are built into NuWell’s backend.
These formats are built into NuWell’s backend.
Why Western Portion Logic Doesn’t Fit
A global app might define a meal as:
“1 cup rice + 3 oz chicken breast + 1 tsp olive oil”
But a Nigerian user just had:
“2 cups jollof + 1 fried chicken thigh + 5 slices dodo + 1 spoon stew”
Different ingredients, fats, and cooking methods. Even “chicken” is misleading: one is lean and boiled, the other deep-fried in palm oil.
This leads to massive underestimates in calorie, fat, and sodium intake.
How NuWell Solves This
Recipes use real serving sizes
→ 1 ladle, 1 wrap, 1 piece, 1 cup — all mapped to grams.
Each portion is the full sum of its ingredients → No shortcuts or assumptions.
Logging uses real-world language
→ “2 wraps amala + 1 ladle okra soup” works natively.
Photo AI recognizes food visually → Upload a picture — NuWell estimates weight and nutrients.
Why This Matters
If you’re diabetic, hypertensive, or managing weight, guessing doesn’t work.
For example, say your goal is 1800 kcal/day:
- 2 wraps pounded yam (~560g): ~640 kcal
- 1.5 ladles egusi soup (~450g): ~900 kcal
- Add a soda: +250 kcal
You're over, and you didn’t even snack yet. Without clear definitions, people think they’re eating “small” — when they’re not.
Summary
- African meals use formats like wraps and ladles
- NuWell maps these to gram-based portion logic
- Every portion is the sum of its ingredients
- Logging is intuitive and accurate for local food
This isn’t adapted from another system — it’s built for Africa.
Try It Yourself
Track what you actually eat — not what an app assumes.