Because people will say they want to tell them and use the opportunity to perpetuate a narrative of poverty rather than one of unity, of sameness, of similarities in spite of the glaring differences. One reason why Anthony Bourdain will be missed. Terribly. For the work he did to expand our thinking and our culinary...
Interesting, I find – Jollof goes by only four names across the coast of West Africa, three of which are repeated in use – Jollof, Riz au Gras (aka Riz Gras), Thieboudienne; one – Benachin is used in only one country – Gambia. I looked at the names in 16 of the 18 countries, excluding...
I’ve always been fascinated by Mingau. By always, I mean since I learnt about it, about it’s existence. In trying to find out more about it, to classify it and understand it, I happened upon lots of Brazilian/ Portuguese references. Mingau, from the old Tupi mina’u means ‘that which is soaked‘. To this end, there...
The ‘Around the World’ series is my way of showing and sharing all the ways we are similar even in all the ways we’re different. Rice tables, Rice buffets are some of my favourite things, ever. I am very much a ‘buffet’ person but the idea of this focus – a central dish around which...
Mingau, a place on the north eastern coast of Brazil, in Bahia Mingua, a porridge of tapioca popularly eaten over Easter on Lagos island, Nigeria Mingau, in literature, of Brazil mentions repeatedly, ‘a sweetened hot drink of tapioca, water, and milk.‘ Mingau is a porridge made from milled cassava, cooked in coconut milk and finished with...
Nigerian cuisine is always on the cusp of something new. Now it’s local exploration and global discovery. Cooks, writers, bakers, baristas, mixologists and more are cooking up ‘New Nigerian Kitchen‘ fare. It is wonderful to see and I’m thrilled to be part of it. The ‘New Nigerian Kitchen’ is a term I coined in 2013 and...
This is about Yemisi Aribisala and her brilliant book – Longthroat Memoirs: Soups, Sex and Nigerian Taste Buds which I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading. I’ve also had the great pleasure of asking Yemisi some questions – which she graciously answers. I first ‘met’ Yemisi in 2010, 2011 – online, in the words she penned in FOOD MATTERS on 234NEXT....
Dishes are all about balance, all about a ‘perfect’ combination and complementing of the elements – flavours, tastes, colours and aromas should work together in delivering a dish – that awakes every sense. Sometimes balance is in the seasoning, other times, it is in the cooking of it and sometimes it’s in the service of it....
My mission in The New Nigerian Kitchen has many dimensions. It encompasses the totality, the entirety of Nigerian cuisine – from language to preservation of culinary history and heritage, and everything in between. We have to put words to our food, understand them for that’s one of the key ways we’ll be able to explain to others...