Join Chef Gabi Odebode as she takes you on a tour through the diverse and rich regions of Africa, all through the lens of its incredible cuisine. Hear captivating stories and savor vibrant flavors from across the continent and beyond. Experience the global influence of African ingredients and cooking techniques in a one-of-a-kind event that celebrates the rich cultural heritage of Africa’s culinary traditions.
Chef Gabi Odebode, born and raised in Koforidua, Ghana, discovered her passion for food at an early age. She began her education in Ghana before immigrating to the United States at the age of 9. Driven by a deep belief in inclusivity and representation, Chef Gabi founded Afromeals to bring West African cuisine into the mainstream food scene. Recognizing the lack of representation of African, particularly West African, dishes in the culinary world, she made it her mission to introduce and share these vibrant flavors beyond her community. Through various cooking classes across Ohio, Chef Gabi educates and inspires others to experience the richness and diversity of African cuisine.
Hi, good evening. I’m Patricia Vansky. I’m director of the Lloyd Library. I’d like to welcome you to tonight’s program, A Tour of Africa with Chef Gabby Odode. Um, I see a lot of new faces here as that really pleases me and I of course see some very familiar faces as well. And to all of you, welcome. If this is your first time to the Lloyd Library, um we date back to the 1870s, our library and our books go back to the 1400s. So, we’ve been here physically here on this block for a long time and our books for even longer than that. Our library is and has always been free and open to the public. So, please feel free to return, use our collections, visit our exhibitions, and attend other programs and bring friends, too. We are officially halfway through our program series that aligns with our current exhibition, the enduring impact of the African plant diaspora. And that exhibit runs through July 25th of this year. Tonight’s program will take us on a food tour of the diverse regions of Africa through the lenses of Africa’s culinary traditions. I hope you had a chance to sample both the ex exhibition and the food in our gallery. And if you happen to attend the opening reception for the exhibition, you got an additional opportunity to taste Chef Gabby’s amazing flavors from Africa. Chef Odub Bode’s presentation will provide us with background information, food stories, and illustrate the global influence of African ingredients and cooking techniques. In doing so, it will bring additional meaning to African cuisine as well as a deeper understanding of the African plant diaspora. Chef Gabby O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O Deod was born in Ghana and discovered her passion for cooking at an early age. In fact, she began learning to cook prior to immigrating to the US at age nine. Um it reminds me um of a friend and colleague that I had who was amazing cook and one day I asked her how soon did you start cooking and she said as soon as I could pull the chair up to the stove. It sounds like you that’s probably the true as well. Um, Chef Gabby has been a driving force in bringing West African cuisine to a to the mainstream food scene. She is founder of Afro Meals. Um, her business, by the way, turns five years old this year. And um, which operates out Yay. which operates out of Finley Kitchen. Uh, Chef Gabby caters and offers cooking classes. She also works with the Food Network where you can find about 30 of her recipes on their website. So, it is my deep pleasure to welcome Chef Gabby Aduode. Thank you. Thank you very much. Welcome everyone. Um, once again, I’m Chef Gabio Deod. It’s so strange for me to like talk and not having to cook. I’m used to like during a cooking class, I’m cutting up some stuff, I’m talking about it, I’m explaining it, but I’m going to do my best to talk about um um touring the African continent through food. So, a tour of Africa is actually one of our cooking classes. This is what started um the business because in 2020, I guess then it was 2021, you still had people who thought Africa is like a country, right? So they will ask you like oh like do you know my friend in Ethiopia? No like I’m from Ghana. I don’t even know your friend from Ethiopia. Even if you had a friend in Ghana I would not still know them because it’s a it’s a country is huge and we have different tribes and cultures and foods and all of that stuff. So that’s what we’re going to talk about today. Okay. And some of the food that you got to try sample is also in the presentation. and I’ll go over more of it when we get to that. Okay, so the title again is tour of Africa touring the African continent through food. So um just this is a map of the West African um countries and I am originally from West Africa, Ghana. So I wanted to start that off first. um all of the different countries that you see we have. If you were to say um would I experience certain food from Nigeria or Sagal or or Liberia or Togo which is where my grandmother used to go and trade. Um I would say yes because regionally um the foods are very very similar but not like you know across in the south I mean sorry below in the south and north and across from the east where we’re very different. So yes, Africa is a continent with 54 countries, but we’re very very different. If you jump from one region to another region, our food is different, our clothes are different, our languages are different. Okay, so those are some of the countries. Um, so West African food, the flavor is bold, flavorful, and then is rooted in tradition. And I know later on I will talk more about like South African food, North um African food and you’ll see more of like maybe Indian influences and um um European influences, but it seemed like in West Africa we’re able to keep more of our traditional food with just a little changes here and there. Okay. So um we we know that we have rich stews, smoky flavors. Most of the time um in Ghana growing up we cooked on something called charcoal. Okay, I know you all cook charcoal. You all cook on charcoal, but we had like a something called um a cro a coal pot. Okay, it was very was silver was made with metal and we put coals in there and then we cooked everything on that um coal pot. So, I didn’t really know about cooking on the stove and all of that until I immigrated to Ghana. So, some of our foods had that smokeoky flavor because as the food is cooking on the coal pot, it’s entering the food. So that’s why in um Nigeria, we’ll talk about it, they have something called smoky jalof. Okay. Um we have spicy seasonings and also we use a lot of um local staples like rice, cassava, yam, plantain, beans, and leafy greens. Um you will see that most of our food is more carbased. Why is that? Because in um specifically in Ghana, sorry, specifically in Ghana, once you eat um a big bowl of rice, and I say a big bowl of rice because um because that’s what you would normally eat. Um we started learning about portion control in America and learning that you can’t eat the same big bowl of rice and then just sit down in winter. In Ghana, right after you eat the big bowl of rice, you’re walking to school, you’re walking to work. I used to walk with my aunts to school um right and it’s like two miles not like from here to here it’s like a very so by the time you get to school you’re hungry looking for your next meal so most of our food is more carb based so you have the yams you have the cassava you have the rice you have the plantain beans um and you will see that um when I came to America and then like I go to a restaurant and they they call the carbs aside while the meat is the Main and I’m like no like I thought I was in like a like what is it like some type of alternate world and I’m like no the rice where bring more rice like I don’t really care about the meat. Um and that’s how our culture is where the sides are actually the soups and the stews and the meats and the other veggies and the main is the yam is the fufu is the rice and we’ll talk more about that. Okay. So we are spice forward. Um we use well I I can say that like we like spicy food most of us but not all of us. Okay. So we use a lot of um scotch bonnet. We use a lot of habanero. I prefer to use habanero because it brings heat and flavor. Scotch bonnet is just heat. Okay. But I remember I was at a farmers market in Maryland. I’m actually from Maryland. I moved to Ohio 2018. Um and I was in a a what do you call farmers market. And then this auntie, we call every elderly woman auntie. She cames like, “No, no, no, don’t buy that one. Don’t buy that one. Buy this one. Buy this one.” Me and my friend was like, “Okay.” Um because sometimes it can be intrusive even when trying to help you. Okay. So, I bought it and then that was like life-changing. And this brings me to the point that like um I think Patricia, right, she uh mentioned that I started learning how to cook at nine because when you’re growing up and then you see your aunt and your mom and your grandmother in the kitchen, you better not be sitting somewhere watching TV or playing sports or whatever, you’re in the kitchen with them. So those aunties sometimes they feel like it’s their responsibility to guide you in flavors and cooking techniques and how things are supposed to look. um slowcooked stews and soup tomato based most of our foods are slowcooked um meals. Our soups is is filled with a lot of rich flavors, a lot of bold flavors because we it takes time and that’s why like if you’re going to go to somebody who is going to cook for you from the African background, like make sure you take a snack, okay? Because we take hard time to cook the ingredients, the the cooking methods, the the slow cooking. For instance, jalof rice takes a long time to cook. You have to cook the stew. First of all, you have to blend the pepper, the onion, the the garlic, all of that. And then you have to cook the stew, add in your curries and the different flavors to create that beautiful stew. It takes at least like 20 minutes to do that. Okay, most of you are done cooking in 20 minutes, but that’s just the start. And then you toss in the rice. Then you add the broth. And then you cover it. And then it cooks under very low heat and the flavor is building up. So that’s why jalof fries is a huge a big popular dish in the West African um area and I’ll talk more about that as well. So tomato based stew is mostly what we see as a foundational um part of our cooking. You see it in our stews, our soups, you see it in our rice dishes, our beans. We have bean stew um actually in Ghana called Red Red um that you can find on the Food Network actually. And that’s when you cook black ey pea beans in a stew. And then Nigerians they call the jolaf beans. It’s the same thing. Um me I mentioned this before. We are grain centered. We pair almost every stew and soup with some type of rice dish or um fufu. And fufu um I’ll talk about it. Let me not jump the gun. I’m so excited. Okay. I love food. So I’m so excited to talk about it. Um um layered flavors. Many meals starts with an aromatic base of blended onions just like I just mentioned. and we call it the trinity and some people one of my friend call it the holy trinity. Okay, it’s it’s so um good that like it’s sacred. Okay, so we’re going to move on to the next. So these are some of the popular dishes jolaf rice. Um it says spicy tomato rice, but it doesn’t have to be. You can control the spice because another assumption that people tend to make is that everyone in Africa or the western part of Africa likes spicy food. I happened to marry somebody that enjoys spicy food. I was like, “Oh, thank God.” You know, because I like spicy food, but then we had a a one of our children, two of them actually, they can’t stand spicy food. So, that was a bummer. So, um I have to cook without the scotch bonnet and then make a little scotch bonnet pepper on the side for my husband and I and my daughter and then we just add it after. So, um so we have fried rice, which is what you all sampled today. So depending on the different countries, the fried rice is made similar, right? With just a few differences. In Nigeria, they like to use um chicken liver. Um don’t say h it actually tastes good. Okay. One thing about us too is that like I think I mentioned to one person who came very early, we use every part of the animal. We use every part of an ingredient like um the taro leaf um on that art right there by Mark. Um they have the root vegetable which is kind of like a potato but the leaf is what we call in Ghana contore. Contore is our spinach. Sorry. Contore is our spinach. Okay. That’s what we use to make spinach stews and all of that. So we use the leaf and the actual vegetable. Um I’m going to go back to jalof rice again. is blended tomatoes with um onions and not garlic, not so much garlic, but I like to add garlic because you know it adds more flavor. And sometimes some people add ginger. The difference between jalof rice in um Sagal and um Nigeria and Ghana is because in Sineagal they cook their jalof rice with other vegetables. Okay, we don’t do that in Ghana. In Nigeria, the blended um puree, tomato puree, they add peppers to it, so they have like a sweeter note coming from the peppers. But in Ghana, we’re strictly tomatoes. Um but in my house, I do both. Okay? I I do the bell peppers and the tomatoes. And the only thing I stick to is the jasmine rice where the rice also depending on which country you’re from differ. We use jasmine rice as Ghanaians and then Nigerian rice um they use um long um long enriched long grain. It’s like some of my friends call it the bullet rice. It’s very thick so you have to cook it longer. Um I will stay on jalof rice um a little bit more because it’s what the whole western um um African country is known for. at least that is the one dish that we all eat and is and there’s a war between Ghanaians and Nigerians about this rice and that’s why like everybody when everybody find out that I’m Ghanaian my husband is Nigerian they’re like whose jolof is better and I’m like no you’re not going to get me okay so um and funny enough um as much as there is that war whose jalof is better between Ghana and Nigeria none of us created it um jalof rice was actually um created by the Synagogia region. They um and it was from the um the Jolof or the wall of tribe. They created it and the other West African countries named the Jolof rice after that tribe. But in synagogue, they actually call it tbujon. They don’t call it jolof rice. Okay. And then Nigerian and Ghanaians have the audacity to tell them that they’re not making it right. Okay. Can you can you imagine? But um a rice being good or not, it’s not about the the region. I’ve had great sineagalles jalof, Ghanian jalof, um Nigerian jalof and I’ve also have bad ones. It depends on the cook. Like just every food, it depends on the cook. It doesn’t depend on the region. Okay. Awesome. So now a goosey soup, it’s melon melon based um soup. It looks like a stew. So if you’re like in America, an American was just like this looks more like a stew. I know that. But they call it soup. So we respect the culture and we call it soup too. Okay. And some of them know that. Um, so sometimes I’ll call it a goosey stew and I have to correct myself that if I’m with the Nigerian community, I call it a soup instead of a stew. Whereas in Ghana, we call it a stew because it’s thicker and it’s not watery like soup and stuff like that. So it’s basically melan seed that they they um blend it so it become very pasty. And they cook it in the same um um trinity, the tomato or bell pepp to tomato and or bell pepper and onion. And they cook it in that stew and it has like a reddish whitish color with some greens and then the greens happens to be spinach. Round soup is known um in Ghana um in Ghana, Nigeria. In different parts of the countries, they make their own um version. So you can go to Ghana and it will taste more different because maybe we put more ginger than maybe people in Nigeria or Sagal or um Liberia. So it’s it it differs but it all tastes great. Watch it. That’s one of my favorite food. Um it’s rice rice and um bean dish. It’s black ey pea dish. Um black ey pea beans which is also found on that map as well. And then the sorum which is also on that map. I was so excited to see it because most of the vegetables that we grow is on that map. So, I was very excited to see it. So, we get the sorghum leaf and then we add it to the rice and the beans and it gives it a purple color which I’m going to show. And then the rice fufu basically most people tend to think it’s dough. Why are you eating dough and soup? It’s not dough. It’s basically cassava and or plantain that you cook and then you pound together to get that dough-l like consistency. And you always pair it with the soup. So it doesn’t have flavor because the flavor is actually supposed to come with the soup or the stew that you eat it with. So these are some of the foods. That’s the fried rice up to my left. That’s the um fufu and the goosey soup. This is one of my kids favorite. That’s the jalof rice plantain and chicken. So you see the carbs that I’m talking about here. And then this is um it’s called my moy is in um from Nigeria. When I first encountered, I was kind of scared of it until I tasted it, but it was pretty good. It’s basically black eyed pea beans that you cook with bell peppers, onions, garlic. You you grind it and then you steam it. Okay. And then the one on the leaf, that is a banana leaf. That’s how we serve wae. W is one of my favorite things. I just explained it. You serve it a banana leaf. And the banana leaf adds its own flavor also to the food. Um and then that is au um ground soup. And amuo is basically rice ball. You cook rice, make it very like mushy and then like you form it together and it also look like a dough. And then you eat it with um peanut soup. And then this one is fufu and um groundut soup as well. And what is in there is asanka. That’s actually my picture is um asanka and that’s what a clay pot that we used to blend and cook um we used to blend and eat out of. Yes. Question. Uh that is that cassava flour or is that this one? In Nigeria they do more pounded yam which is a yam. Okay. And that’s like the long tuber because I know that here sometimes you guys call potato yam. Okay. Fufu in East Africa is probably ugali. Yes. Which that is corn. That’s maize. That’s not Yes. M or millet. And it’s not um it’s not yam or cassava. So that’s how we differ. And we have something also in Ghana called Benoon. That’s also ugali. It’s just ours is fermented is um whereas ugali is not fermented corn. Any other questions? Awesome. I’ll move on. I’m going to skip through because I’m talking too much. Um so spices we use chilies um um scotch bonnet peppers. We discussed that um dried chili flakes. We use ginger a lot especially in Ghana. If I come to your house and I don’t see um ginger in your Ghanaian, I’ll ask you, are you even Ghanaian? So ginger is a big thing. Garlic, onions, um tomato based peppers and all of that. So that’s some of um the spices. Um these are grains of celum. These are the traditional spices that like most people don’t really know. Grains of celum in Ghana we call it wintia. In Nigeria, they call it uda pot. And it’s kind of like it’s I would say if I was to compare it’s kind of like a clove our own like clove. Okay. And then um calabash nutmeg is similar to nutmeg but it’s like they said pungent and we use it more for like a savory foods instead of like nutmeg where it’s used towards like pastries and other stuff. Alligator peppers are atare that’s in Nigeria. Um it’s spicy and aromatic. They use it in something called pepper soup. I see it a lot in their pepper soup, which is like a light soup made with like beef broth or chicken broth. Dawa dawa. Dawad is where we get our umami flavor from, but it smells really badly. Okay. Um, so think about like your favorite like stinky cheese. That’s really good, right? That’s kind of like that locus beans. So sometimes we use in our house when we have guests coming, we know that not to warm it or cook it around that time because like it takes over the whole house cuz it’s fermented. Um and but we love it because it adds so much of the traditional flavors to our food. Okay. Other spices we use a lot of curry powder, thyme, bay leaf, nutmegs, cloves, and then I think the only thing that we started using that comes from the um European influences, it’s bullyong cube. Um and then we use a lot of salted fish to get also the umami flavor. So when I’m cooking a goosey at home, you’re definitely going to see salted fish shrimp powder. Those are the two that you will see in there and the locus beans to give that umami flavor. So spice blends. Okay. So we use suya spice which I have here. I brought something for you all to sniff and but this one I have um some for like all the different region but this one has um what do you call it? Peanut. So if you’re allergic to peanut please do not touch this. Okay. So I have um two coming around. You guys feel free to open it and smell it. Okay, this is not a boring presentation. You’re going to experience it one way or the other. Okay, so we have the seal spice that’s coming around. The base is peanut because we use a lot of peanut too in the western part. And then we have cayenne pepper, onions, and all of that. We also have the pepp spice, which I told you about the ata atare, the alligator peppers. And then we have the jalof fry seasoning. I forgot to bring a packet for you all to um see, but it’s right here. So, you can also pass this around. People can um look at it. And then we have the Kanga Kanga. That’s just a a dry rub that is used mo mainly in Mali and Guinea. Okay. East Africa. I came to know more about this um region when I started I started trying to like educate people about um East African food just to see the similarities and the difference. So one thing I like about this um region is that they’re not they’re not really similar to us in that you don’t see a lot of rice. You don’t I don’t even think you see rice at all. You see more of bread. Okay. And also they have very flavorful um they have very flavorful flavorful stews and sauces because they use a whole lot of different spices to create a beautiful spice blend. Okay. So it features a balance of grains, legumes, spices and stews often served with flatbread, porridge or rice. And depending on where it is like Ethiopia, right, Ethiopia would do the more of the um flatbread whereas when you go to t um Kenya, Tanzania or the Swahili countries is what they call it. You see more of the porridge like someone mentioned Ugali. I’m going to talk more about that. And yes, they have a lot of like the Arab and then Indian and also um Persian like influences on their food. And that’s where I see the similarities between their um what do you call it? spices and the spices that they also use. So characteristics, you get a lot more of sore and fermented element. Um, eg the inera. Have you all tried inera bread? Yeah, it’s very sour. Okay. So, if you’re not into that, like you will not enjoy it, but it’s very sour and but it’s delicious and it pairs really well with their like sauces and stews and stuff like that. Um, it says stews and sauces made with spice but not overly hot flavors. Well, I would say depending because their berry berry is sometimes can be very spicy which is their spice blend. We’ll talk more about that. Um the Indian and Arab Arabic influences in the coastal region um especially the Swahili cuisines which is um they use spices like cardamom curry pilow masala which is here. Okay, this is what they use to cook their rice pilow. I’m going to pass that around so you all can open it and smell it. So you see cardamom and green cardamom to be specific. Um you see a lot of black pepper. You see a lot of um coriander and cumin in some of their spice blends and in some of their cooking. So for the Swahili cuisine, you see um chapati, you see pila, you see samosas and um um some masalas as well. Um and then um their specific food that they kept um I guess they kept without the influences of the other cultures. You see the sorum, millet, te is actually what they use to make um inera and cassava and f and other fermented um preparation. Um yeah, that’s about it. Oh, so most of you, how many of you use that little um butter thingy there with the bread? Yes, that is their own clarified butter. They call it inter bay. I might be pronouncing it wrong. That’s their own ghee. So, what we did is like we just like, you know, melted some butters and added their different spice blends in there like the cardamom, um, fenugreek, um, cinnamon, like we put like 10 things in there because that’s how much that they use. And then that gives it that flavor. Alongside we’re using the dry spices. You also um add some fresh ginger, onions, and garlic in there to give it that flavor. Okay, so that’s what you all had with the bread in that room. And um not only do they use it for food in almost all their food, they also use it for their hair. Some of them use it for their skin as well. Imagine going around smelling like good food, right? Okay, these are some of their popular food. inera with um what um we know what ina bread is, fermented te flat bread and then you can use it to eat their lentils. You can use it to eat their um different other foods like tips. My favorite is beef tibs um where you cook it with the um spice blend. Bear bear um ugali which is what we spoke about is made with um um maze and you turn it, you boil water, you add it to it, you turn it until it form that dough-l like consistency and then you use it to eat suk sukuma wiki and um other curry sauces like cuckoo paka. Um matki is green plantain that they cut kind of like a a porridge. Okay. So, you cook the um green um plantain with um curries and other um spices and is delicious. Um and then yamachoma is basically grilled meat. They’re into a lot of like barbecuing. They use like different seasoning to add and then like they grill it on um open fire. So, these are some of the food. That’s rice pilow. That’s the matki. That’s the um uh what is it? I just said it. the grilled um yamama choma and then sukumawiki is what is next to the yamama choma. And this is the inera with the different sauces and and fresh veggies and meats that they pick up the bread and then they dip it in there and then they they eat it. And then this is also the um ugali right there. This is some curry sauce and then that’s the sukumiki. Sukumahiki is Yes. I’m sorry I didn’t I can’t hear you. You know the black here. Yes. Yes. Um it depends on families and culture. Like for me sometimes I tend to want to keep some of the cultural stuff but like once in a like let me add a little bit of coconut coconut oil or coconut milk or something like that. But for the most part traditionally we’ve been able to keep um we’ve been able to keep um the the what do you call it? Cooking techniques number one. And also we’ve been able to um keep some of the ingredients and all of that. Well being in the United States sometimes it’s hard to find the actual um what do you call it? local ingredients um unless you really really search for it. But like sometimes we swap like the spinach I use at home now is not taro leaves unless I go to jungle gyms. So it depends. Thank you for that question. Yes. Do you use cassava leaves? Cassava leaves. We don’t use cassava leaves but other cultures do as well. Um Sierra Leon they use um cassava leaf and I think also Liberia but we don’t they do. Eastern Africa they do. I didn’t know whether that was transferred over to western. Yes. Yes. And funny enough even like what you just said like some kava leaf transferred to um western Africa also bear berry I came to find out that is one of our spices because it travel from Ethiopia to um the um Ghana. So and I didn’t know that until I came here. I saw a hand somewhere. Did somebody else raise? Okay. So we’re going to move on. So these are some of the spices um that you can see in um East African cooking. Ginger, garlic, turmeric, coriander, cumin, cardamom, clove, cinnamon, black pepper. They also didn’t mention fenugreek. You see that in there? And then sometimes fennel. Okay. Oh, here before I finish, this is bear bear. This is bear bear. I forgot to send this to you all. So this is like the main spice blend that is used in Ethiopia. Spice blends. We have pilo masala which is the black spice that is going around. We have the berry berry which I just handed to you all. Now this berry bear has like over 12 to 15 different spices in there. Um and then we have the Somalian one. I think it’s the Silwa spice blend as well. We don’t have that here. Okay. Sorry. Um and then the spice clarified butter is the one that you all had with your bread today. And then the mim mit mittita is also like a a spice blend that they use for grilled meat in Ethiopia. So for the bear bear, make sure that you don’t get it too close to your nose because it can be very spicy. Okay. Oh, it smells really good. Yeah, it smells good. I love the smell actually. I That’s one of my favorite um spice blend. So now we’re going to move on to South Africa. I’m checking time to make sure that I’m not I’m like trying to keep pace. So if you see me going fast, I’m just trying to keep the time so that we have time for questions. Okay. Um so this is South Africa. Um these are some of the South African countries. Angola, Zimbabwe, South Africa. Um Mozambi and all of that. We’re going to talk about their food. South African cuisine. Um it South African cuisine is interesting. So I say it’s interesting because most some of it um you see especially in South Africa you see more of like a European um background and um that’s and when I first started studying South African food I’m like wait that doesn’t sound African like where did it come from until I started doing history about it. So we’ll talk more about that. South African cuisine reflect a rich um interplay of tradition resourcefulness and global in influence. While the food often appears simple, it’s built around staple like maize, cassava and beans. Um um when we talk about maze, we will see the similarities between South African cooking and also East African cooking because ugali is something that they have in common. But they don’t call it uggali, they call it pap. Funny enough, in Nigeria they uh and in Ghana we make something a porridge or a pudding called um we call it cocoa and Nigerians call it pap. and is we use fermented corn whereas they call pap which is non fermented corn. They use it to make ugali and they used it to eat something like chakalaka which is what you all had today. We’re going to talk more about that. It’s layered with regional spices um spice blend, seasonal products, produce and cross-cultural techniques from um centuries of trade and migration. Okay. um characteristic of South African cuisine um is starchy like similar to um what we spoke about with the West African cuisine. Um so you see pap, ugali, fufu, all of that. Um so so I you all are picking up some similarities, right, within the um different regions. Um they have stews and relishes. Funny enough, some people call, we will call the chakalaka that you all had a stew, but some people call it a relish. And I’m still trying to process how that is a relish. That’s the chakalaka in the room with the beans with the um baked beans. Um again, you respect what they call it, even though you might have your own like culinary idea of what it should be. So yeah, just like the Nigerian um egusi soup instead of a goosey stew. Yes. So relishes made with greens, tomatoes or peanut sauces are common. Um mid to moderate spicing is their food is don’t tend to be as spicy at least to me compared to West African um food. Some West African foods. Is that what they said too? Yeah, like West African foods. Okay. Um so they do a lot of like open fire cooking um cast iron pots and fermentation almost if you look at all the different um regions you see that fermentation is a big thing like um the fermented locust beans fermented corn from sorry fermented corn from our um our side. Next time where should we put the mic? Maybe not on my chest cuz I keep hitting it. Sorry about that everyone. Um I guess because it’s dear to my heart. I keep I’m just joking. um also colonial and um migrant influences like the British. Um and that’s why I was so confused by um specifically South African food because I’m like what is baked beans doing in an African um cuisine? Um so um they they do a lot of baked beans. They even do a lot of like sausages and all of that. And then I realized that like the Africans, some of them are like the um European um ancestors who live there. So sometimes if you Google um South African food, you’re going to see more of like the British food instead of the indigenous food. Okay. So for the indigenous food, you have to keep digging and diving to be able to see uh most of that or actually maybe travel to the country to be able to experience that. So yeah, popular dishes. That’s the stiff maze porridge. They call it stiff maze, but it’s basically the ugali, which is kind of like the corn fufu. Okay. and pap and chakalaka. Usually you will eat chakalaka with pap but in our cooking class you eat it you will eat it with plantain because it’s my cooking class and in um in Ghana we tend to in Ghana and the West African countries any bean dish you eat with a plantain or rice instead of like like uggali and stuff like that but like culturally chakalaka is spared with um pap. Um yeah, bunny chow is a hollow bread where they fill it in curry. Curry is also very very popular. You you see curry goat, um curry, um chicken, all of that in the what do you call it in the South African countries also because they have a lot of Indian influences. So you see all of that. Perry chicken. Yes, Perry Perry chicken. Have anybody been to like the is it like the eastern side like Maryland and you’ve had some Nandos? Yeah. Did you like it? Literally I traveled to Maryland just to eat that cuz they don’t have it in Ohio. I don’t know why. Um so Perry Perry chicken speaking of that. So now I have this Perry Perry spice blend coming around also from and then the Bria which we’re going to also mention. So they use Bria. Bria is basically um barbecue um or grilling. That’s basically the meaning of Bria in South African um culture and I will pass the two here so that we can start. Do you want me to open it for you? Okay, good. So, Perry Perry is actually from Mozambi. Okay. So, because they use a very popular and spicy pepper is called the Perry Perry pepper. It’s bird’s eye chili pepper. It can be very spicy. Um, but if you use less or and more of paprika, it tones it down a little bit. Okay, so um that’s how they make pepper chicken. They season it and then they grill it on an open fire. So these are some of the food. Um that’s the curry and the um stiff maze. That’s the um Perry Perry chicken. You can make it in a skewer or you can just leave a bone in and then just season it. That is the um what do you call it? That’s a stiff maze um paired with some veggies. And then this is the bunny chow. I don’t know how clear that is. Um it has like um potato and curry inside the bread and then like you pick the bread and then you scoop it in and then you enjoy it. And then hold on. And then the sua. Yes, that’s the one towards the end. It’s kind of like pulled pork a little bit if you look at it. So yeah, I’m supposed to be using this but I haven’t been using it. Sorry. Awesome. So, spices that they use, ginger, garlic, turmeric, coriander, cumin, cardamom, very similar to the eastern um region, um cinnamon, and then the berry perry bird. I chili pepper as mentioned. I’m waiting for them to take pictures. Okay. Spice blend and um paste. We have the cape uh Malay curry powder. So curry powder is very popular because they make a lot of curry sauces. Um per perry sauce which is from Mozambi like I mentioned. It has um lemon um the ones coming around is basically dried um vinegar, paprika, all the ingredients that you see to make the um the actual paste is like the dried version. What is coming around? Um you also have what marinate uh marinades with garlic, bay leaf, paprika, olive oil um and then um ground nut sauce. Usually if you hear some an African and I’ll say an African to generalize because we all tend to call it ground nut instead of peanut. Okay, cool. Let me make sure I passed out everything here. Okay, I have. Okay, good. So the next one that we’re going to talk about, so we’ve done the west, the east, the south, and then the north. Right? I’m just trying to keep track. So this is the northern um countries. You see Algeria, Liberia, Egypt, Sudan, Tunisia, Morocco, and then the Western Sahara. So you see all of that. Um I think I think Morocco is the country that you can literally it connects to like one European country. I’m trying to remember what it is. Spain. Yes. I had to do this talk with um children at a co-op. So I had to tell them about that. So North African cooking is also um um very different where it has more of a Mediterranean flavor. Literally you can get away with some Mediterranean food and call it like North African food or specifically like Moroccan food. Okay. Um but still try not to get away with it. um Mediterranean and um Arab and Burberry tradition um combines the richness of Mediterranean flavors with spices from the Arab world and indigenous um amazing technique which is tene and couscous barley based dishes. Okay. So you can see that like there’s influ the east African and also North African are very similar because they have that Arab influences. So their spices are similar and some of the ways that they also cook are similar. They use a lot of like dry fruits and nuts and that comes from them the um um Arabian influences as well like apricot, raisins, almonds and dates. I think this is the part where as a West African I kind of can’t connect because in um in a in West Africa our savory is savory and our sweet is sweet but like they found a way to like connect the savory and the sweet together. So sometimes is my my taste buds when eating North African food is kind of like what’s going on here? Because like it’s not used to like even when I came to the United States, sweet and and spicy. I’m like what’s that? It’s like you’re either eating spicy or you’re either eating sweet. It doesn’t like come together. Sure it does. Now I like it cuz my my mouth has been trained to do that. I’ve been here for over 20 years. So at some point you get used to it. So, North African food flavors are complex and aromatic but not overly fiery like West African food. I I guess we like a lot of fiery foods, right? Um where your tongue is burning, but no, it doesn’t have to be. You can always remove the pepper. Slowcooked tajine and stews. Um they use a lot they eat also with flatbreads. Um couscous is a big thing that they’re known for. Um and it’s just couscous. Just think about it like pasta that they just like broke down into like smaller smaller pieces. It it is delicious. It’s one of my favorite things to eat. It’s very simple to make. Um and you can even sometimes I even eat it like a cereal. I add some milk and some sugar. It’s really good. I try so many different things at home. Okay. So couscous you can fi find that in like the mor Moroccan food Algeria, Tunisia and then tjine is Moroccan. is basically something that’s slowly cooked in like a clay pot and then like for me I do the slow cook in like my oven. I put it like in a clay pot or maybe my cast iron and then just put my chicken in there with this season that I’m going to talk about. Ras Alhan is one of it’s called top shelf. I mean like it’s one of their best spice blend and this is like you can put this um close to your nose cuz it smells really good here. So um couscous pairs really good with tajines. Tajins can be either vegetable based or vegetable and a meat base. I like to make it like chicken with some um what do you call it? Squash um with some zucchini, some eggplant and the flavor with that ros alanut spice blend. It’s amazing. Okay, so um we have the co koshara which is a street food um with lentils, rice, macaroni. I saw this, I was like, “This is there that’s a lot going on. It’s kind of like a awake that has the rice and beans, the spaghetti, the the chat.” And I was like, “Wow.” So, it’s kind of similar um popular food in um Tunisia. Did I skip something? Okay, more. This is part two. I was like, “Oh, I thought I skipped something.” So, is the um Burke. This is thin past um pastry filled with egg. I’ll show you when the picture come. And then um different other fruits. Are you smelling it? because I’m hearing some comments. Yeah. Right. Like I can literally toss that on my skin. Okay. So, this is the um that is the pastry that I think is the um brick, the Tunis Tunisian food. And then that’s the couscous. Very easy to make. Literally heat up some water, let let it cool a little bit, toss in the couscous, and then in and you cover in just a minute. It’s done. You add some butter to it and you’re good to go. And then this is the um let me go back. This is the This is the kosher. Yeah. You see the pasta and the rice and then it’s kind of like uh what is that? Um it’s kind of like lasagna. Kind of deconstructed lasagna because I see a lot a whole lot going on. But yeah. And then the last one is tjin. You see the clay pot that they cooking the chicken. You see some carrots. You see um I think squash and all of that. And then next to it like a little bit um a plate is there is couscous spices again very similar to the east and the um to the east and the south cumin coriander literally the ros alhanaut that’s coming around is bas has almost like all of these in there and like the ras alanaut that you’re smelling we just delivered that we just um developed that in our kitchen and we’re going to start selling it tune. It took years cuz we wanted the right the right blend. So yeah, if so the the the noise makes sense because when I smelled I’m like we got it. So another thing is like um carowway is something that I came to understand when we started doing um a lot of Moroccan and North America North African cooking. It has like a um a mintish um scent to it and it goes in something called harissa which I’m passing around as well. Here you go. So haresa sometimes some people like to they also cook with a lot of mint. So sometimes you get that um carowway flavor and they also add mint. So the first time I had harissa the um the dried one I felt like it was too minty for me and that’s all I was tasting. So, for our our blend, this is our blend. Um, you can pass this around as well. For our blend, we omit the mint and just keep the carowway because for for me personally, I feel like the carowway does the job of having that mint tone in there. Cuz sometimes when you when you’re eating, it’s not good to just experience just one flavor. I don’t want to taste just cardamom. I don’t want to taste just cumin. I want all the blends to work together so that one is not overpowering another. So for me personally adding the mint, I’m getting more of like the mint taste and um some of the harissas than the actual some of the cumin and the coriander and and the carowway and the paprika and the garlic that is also supposed to be like standing out. Okay, spice blend r that’s what is going around the harissa. So harissa actually comes in paste but now people are developing people including our business we’re also developing um the dry spices so that like people can be able to use it on like their meat and all of that. Um and then the um the baharat that’s the allpurpose blend paprika black pepper clove cinnamon cumin they use a lot of you will see cloves cinnamon cumin and coriander a lot in some of their food and also nutmeg. Nutmeg is singing almost that’s one thing that they have with I I would say Ghana. Okay. And then they have the Duka naughty spice mix of sesame, coriander, cumin, and crushed nuts. That’s it. Any questions? I was trying to beat the time. Any questions? Thank you. Gabby did mention palm oil. Yes, it was not part of my presentation, but um the the what do you call it? The agusi um most of our stews and our um soups are um the base is not only the tomato um puree, but the oil, the preferred oil is palm oil. Now, some people be like, “Oh my gosh, palm oil is so bad for you.” It’s not bad for you. My ancestors have been enemy um we’ve been eating palm oil for several years and that’s not what is killing us. Okay. Um the reason why um palm oil is vilified is actually on that um it come from the palm tree and the palm tree actually gives us a lot of stuff in the western part of Africa. It gives us something called palm wine which is our own wine. It’s like sour. If you drink too much of it you can get drunk. Okay. and they climb all the way like very high to like tap it from like the stem to get that. So that’s our like indigenous kind of like wine drink and we get the palm oil. The palm canal is actually what is more of a health risk if you have too much of it. I like to compare palm oil to coconut oil. How many of you use coconut oil at home? Good. If you can use coconut oil at home, you can use palm oil. The reason why is that like any oil that solidifies um in um maybe a more cold temperature, right? Meaning that it has um unsaturated fats. Now, unsaturated fats has double bonds. I also um my master was in biology before I quit and I’m like, I’m going to be a chef. So, so my dad was not so happy about that, but cuz he expected a doctor. Um anyways so it has unsaturated bonds and like when something is has a double bond it’s not able to flow right it’s very rigid whereas um the the palm oil is in room temperature is both liquid and also solid meaning that it has less of the unsaturated um bonds in there compared to coconut oil. So to be honest palm oil is even better for you than coconut oil. Okay? Because the reason why that is scary is because like um your arteries when um you eat too much grease, right? Like the way I clogged my sink by pouring a lot of like grease down there. There’s like it shouldn’t be doing that, the plumber said to me. Um I was like, I’m not going to do that anymore. So like it’s it kind of get blocked in your arteries and it like the blood that’s supposed to flow through is not able to. Okay. Cuz it solidifies and all of that. Um so that’s why people say that um palm oil is not is not good for you. But I think it’s been vilified for too long and usually during my talks um I like to thank you for bringing that up. I try to like let people to know the education. If you’re using coconut oil, you can use palm oil because palm oil is actually, I would say, better because it doesn’t solidify all the way at room temperature because it’s half um is more it has about 75% um saturated um fats in there um compared to um coconut oil which is 50% unsaturated and then palm oil is 25% um what do you call it? Um unsaturated. So that’s just the bond that keeps it from form. Compared to vegetable oil, it’s like liquid, right? That means like the bonds are like slow to move around. That’s why it’s liquid. Okay. I’m teaching the state of matter here. So yeah. So that’s really it. But we use it in our sauces, our stew, our egg sauce, bean stew, um all of that. And writing for the Food Network. Sometimes I get scared. Will people be like, “Oh, I’m not making the I’m not making this recipe because it has palm oil.” But when I signed on with Food Network, I told them that I’m going to keep my recipe as authentic as as it should be because of for my people’s sake and to just keep being honest with myself and not try to say, “Oh, you use vegetable oil or whatever.” I suggest you can, but traditionally we use palm oil. So yeah, thank you for that. Any other questions? Yes. So there was one region where it had a lot of I’m not sure if it was the peanut or a different nut as a base or a lot of the ingredients is that’s probably west western Africa the question oh he said there was a a specific region that had more like of the peanut um or groundnut um what ingredient as a base. So what is your question? Well, I mean we see allergies here. Yeah. Um I don’t think so. Actually, I didn’t come to know about allergies until I came to America in terms of like food and I don’t know why that’s the case. Um and I was even thinking one of my kids were going to have like peanut allergy or gluten and all of that. But we don’t experience that and I don’t know what the issue is. Um, and that’s why like for in in different parts of Africa, we eat whatever, you know, including ground nut. Um, nut is a big part of our um our our cooking. And I’ve never met Well, I don’t know everybody in Africa, but I have never met and I don’t know everyone in Ghana, but I’ve never met someone or even here, I’ve never met like an a West African that says I have a nut allergy. Um, so I don’t know what um it could be an environmental thing. I have a theory. Yes. It could be. It could be. Yeah, it could be because you also bring a you bring a good point because one thing I forgot to mention is that in in um Ghana everything was from farm to table. We we didn’t have like food that has already been cooked for you and is in like the refrigerator and you have to go to a grocery store and buy it. And also, I didn’t grow up with a refrigerator. So, I didn’t really eat stuff like snacks. All I did was like all I had was breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and they were all cooked from like, you know, like from single ingredients. So, that also could be um an issue. I think the only thing that someone encountered with peanut butter. My my mom brought peanut butter in Ghana and my cousin ate it and he just had a running stomach because he had too much of it cuz he never seen like peanut butter in a jar before. But that’s the only thing. But aside from being allergic, I’ve never known anyone who’s from the I guess the African diaspora that has that. And the same thing with gluten cuz you have a gluten allergy would be very kind of difficult in certain um countries where unless they use I don’t know no um it would be difficult for you to live in certain countries because they do a lot of bread. Whereas in in in you can be gluten free and live in like the western part because we do a lot of rice and potatoes and yams and stuff like that. Yes. Just talking about the peanut butter. You know, looking at a lot of people in the room with age, you know, many of us remember peanut butter where they would separate the oil from that whatever. And that you go buy a gif or whatever it is in the grocery store and it still doesn’t separate. Yeah. Processed. Yes. And it’s one of those things that talking about your family member, you know, eating our processed peanut butter. Yeah. I don’t I don’t I actually eat the peanut butter that separates. All it has to say is peanut and maybe salt. Don’t even buy the one with like honey or sugar. I just buy because when I make the um peanut soup like we can’t we have to have a specific um peanut butter that’s close to home. Like in Ghana, we roast it, then we blend it, then we cook with it. So again, like that’s why it’s a long cooking process because we start from literally scratch, okay? But now in America, like I’m not about to like roast it and grind it. I go and buy like the one, the natural one, the one that says natural where you see the oil still like sitting on top. And again, it’s just peanut butter and salt or just peanut butter by itself. Hi, you have a question. Okay, what’s your question? How does your food get? Oh, um it gets made in several ways. Okay. Um we we blend it. We blend the um ingredients, right? We put it aside. Then we cook it in some oil, specifically palm oil. We cook it for some time. Then we add some seasoning to it. Um, we add some locust beans to give that umami flavor and salted fish and um something called Nigerians call it crayfish, but it’s actually grounded um shrimp. So, if you’re an American and you meet a Nigerian, they said, “Oh, add crayfish to it. Don’t actually go and buy crayfish.” Okay? They mean grounded shrimp. Again, you respect what they call it, but you know that that’s not what it’s called. And then we let it all cook together and then we eat it with some rice. question in the back. Yes. So, I actually Oh, so she’s talking about like celebrations where we all eat together, right? Yeah. I know some like Yeah. It’s just a jumping around. We jump around a lot in um Africa. So, um so we do stuff like birthdays and weddings and um just different graduations. Um what do you call it? Uh just think graduations even in Ghana, funerals are a big deal. We celebrate funeral like it’s a wedding. Okay. Um because we pay respect for the dead even more than the living. Um, so they do a lot of like different cooking. We come together and eat. And speaking of like eating as a community, I actually grew up eating from the same pot with like five cousins and my sister. So it’s like you wash your hand and then you have a big bowl and then everybody’s eating from the same thing. Okay. Now, if I want to do that with my sister, she’s like, “Ew.” You know, but like that’s what we grew up doing. There was no like separate bowls. There’s not that. It was a lot of stealing people’s meat though. Like my sister did that. It’s like she would eat her meat and then like hide your meat under her hand and just put it in your because we also eat with our hands. We barely ate with our like a fork or a spoon or whatever because that’s our culture everything. You will even see us eating rice with our hand. I don’t do that here as often because you know I have kids you know. So yeah and like I have to wash my hand after him and all of that. It’s easier to use a spoon. Hi. Yes. Um I saw some folks eating fufu and they don’t chew the fufu. Yes. Is that typical or is that something? Yes. So actually I edited that from I didn’t know that I removed it from my um my slide. So fufu is actually known as swallow. So if you meet a Nigerian, they say, “Hey, do you eat swallow?” They’re asking you, “Do you eat fufu or our version of uggali?” Okay? So you don’t chew it. So what you do is like you get it and then you dip it inside the soup or the stew and you swallow it. I still swallow but my kids chew it and it’s okay. It’s just like the the people who are from the culture they think that you’re doing it wrongly by chewing it but like sometimes people put a big chunk in their mouth and like not everybody can swallow such a big thing. So I tell people like eat it you can chew it you know I I used to chew it and then my grandma would be like when I was in Ghana like you don’t chew it just swallow it. So now I’m used to swallowing it, but I feel like if you chew it and someone that is not of the culture, you experience more of the flavor with this soup than just to swallow it. Yeah. I don’t know. For some reason, we still experience the the the flavor, but I don’t It’s It’s funny because I’m not thinking that I’m swallowing it. I just do it. Meanwhile, my kids chew it. My youngest son was like, “I have to chew it because I don’t want to choke.” You know, and we started laughing. I was like, “Good point. Just chew it, whatever. As long as you can get inside your stomach.” But yeah, culturally, we’re not supposed to chew it. We’re just supposed to like swallow it. So, the slimier foods help you to swallow it easier. Um like okra or oono. We do a lot of okra soup is also on that. Um a lot of okra. Um I have to have okra soup every other week or I’m not okay because I grew up I grew up with it and stuff like that. So, yeah. Yes. How do you prepare food in the US? know the pounding, right? Yes. So, in um the US there’s the powdered version which is not the same like you just like turn it just like you do ugali. You turn it in a pot, a boiling water and then you get it. But again, it doesn’t taste the same because it’s been processed. But I found a way using um a food processor. You cook the cassava and the plantain or the pounded yam. I made it for my father-in-law. I was so excited. So, I cooked it in until it was soft. I added a little bit of the water and then I pressed my food processor. You know how doughs are made and then it turned into like the fufu and I was like, “Oh my god, it tastes exactly like that compounding it.” Cuz the food processor is like pounding it for you. So that’s how we make it now. Yeah. Yes. Are you eating these foods for breakfast also? Is there different? Yes. Um well, it depends. you would they discourage you eating anything like fufu fu for breakfast because it’s very heavy and if you go to school put you to sleep. So my grandmother would like no if you eat that you’re going to sleep off in school. So we do eat um our breakfast is the wii which is the rice and um beans um thing rice and beans um uh what do you call it food? What did you say? Like a bean cake. That that is called the moy. That one you eat as a side with rice. But there is something called um a bean fritter which they call aura and co aura in Nigeria. Co in my in my language which is like it’s the same thing as the moy but instead of steaming it you fry it. So you eat it um during breakfast with something called cocoa which is the pap. So and you add sugar. So you have your protein and the carb is actually the um fermented corn um pudding that you eat it with. So that’s one of our breakfast. Another breakfast is like tea and bread because we also were colonized by the British. So we do a lot of teas specifically like chocolate like teas in the morning. Um bread. We do coffee. Um we do the watch stuff. We do something called puffpuff which I think you had it here at the opening event. Yeah. That’s a breakfast item but now we turn into dessert by adding some ice cream and chocolate sauce. But like it’s like our own donut. Yeah. is our own donut and we again we eat it with pap, we eat it with like custard um what else? And we eat it with Yeah, mostly pap and then um tea. So we have different um we do a lot of breads and a lot of like the the bow fruit and then the stuff like that for breakfast. But like the fufu stuff is mostly either lunch or dinner because it’s so heavy. It will like put you to sleep if you are sitting in an office or going to school. It’s not a lot of fruit. Fruit is actually our dessert, which is what I forgot to mention. Um, so usually during our cooking classes like, “Oh, what are we having for dessert?” Well, we made the puffpuff like the dessert. But usually in Ghana and in um Nigeria, in Ethiopia, I went to the Ethiopian store and I’m I’m asking them, I’m teaching an Ethiopian class, what do you all eat for dessert? He’s like, uh, I’m like, you eat fruit, right? I was like, we do, too. He was like, yes. So, um, and I don’t know about the other African countries, but I know at least Ethiopia and like western part of Africa, we don’t have anything called dessert. It’s fruit. After you finish eating dinner or lunch, what you eat is basically an orange or mango or um pineapple or even like like coconut, you know? So, that’s what you eat. Dessert is what like you get when you get an A on your exam or it’s your birthday. You don’t eat it after every meal. So every meal our dessert is actually fruit question. So if we wanted to try your food um at Finley Kitchen, how do we find? So if you wanted to try my food in Finley Kitchen, I’m re I’m saying the the question so they can sink um cuz my brain is like you know um you can we do catering and then we’re starting meal prep because a lot of people have been asking about it. So, we’re going to start it back up again. Or you can come to our cooking class where I teach you how to make jalafal fries, fried rice, and all of that stuff. So, um we’ve done a lot of cooking classes with different businesses because they also want to be learn about culture and bring culture to their teens and all of that. So, you can find it on our website, afromos.com. And you can if you like the spice blends and stuff like that, they’re also on our website. Yeah. Thank you.
Dining and Cooking