Like many ethnic groups in Nigeria, the Ijaws have many local foods that are not widespread in Nigeria. Many of these foods involve fish and other seafoods such as clams, oysters and periwinkles; yams and plantains. Some of these foods are:
- Polofiyai — A very rich soup made with yams and palm oil
- Kekefiyai— A pottage made with chopped unripened (green) plantains, fish, other seafood or game meat ("bushmeat") and palm oil
- Fried or roasted fish and plantain — Fish fried in palm oil and served with fried plantains
- Gbe — The grub of the raffia-palm tree beetle that is eaten raw, dried, fried in groundnut oil or pickled in palm oil
- Kalabari "sea-harvest" fulo— A rich mixed seafood soup or stew that is eaten with foofoo, rice or yams
- Owafiya (Beans Pottage) — A pottage made with Beans, palm oil, fish or bushmeat, Yam or Plantain. Then taken with processed Cassava or Starch.
- Geisha Soup — This a kind of soup cooked from the geisha fish; it is made with pepper, salt, water and boiling it for some minutes.
- Opuru-fulou — Also referred to as prawn soup, prepared mainly with prawn, Ogbono (Irvingia gabonensis seeds), dried fish, table salt, crayfish, onions, fresh pepper, and red palm oil.
- Onunu - made with pounded yams and boiled overripe plantains. It is mostly enjoyed by the Okrikans[30]
- Kiri-igina — Prepared without cooking on fire with Ogbono (Irvingia gabonensis seeds), dried fish, table salt, crayfish.
- Ignabeni — A watery soup prepared with either yam or plantain seasoned with teabush leaves, pepper, goat meat, and fish.
- Pilo-garri — A Bille meal mostly eaten during the raining season. It is prepared with dry garri, red palm oil, salt and eaten with roasted seafoods (fish, Isemi, Ngbe, Ikoli, etc).
- igbugbai fiyai_ A soup prepared without oil, only fish, onion periwinkle, Bush leaves and other seafood.this soup prepared mostly cooked by odimodi people.
- kpanfaranran[fry fiyai] a soup prepared by frying the palm oil before adding your fish,meat,crayfish,periwinkle, and other seafood.this food is mostly cooked by the odimodi people