Stoughton, Wisconsin, may not be where one expects to find East African staples like fufu and makande on the menu. The small town that holds tight to its Norwegian heritage also hosts Ben’s African Mediterranean Cuisine. How Ombeni “Ben” Pallangyo came to open his restaurant there might seem just as unlikely.
In his native Tanzania, Pallangyo was a restaurateur and safari leader. There, he met a Wisconsin woman on an academic program whom he would marry and follow to her home, arriving in the middle of winter.
“It was bloody hell cold,” Pallangyo remembered. “I feel like I’m at 19,340 feet which is the height of Mount Kilimanjaro.”
The couple is no longer married but, Pallangyo notes they remain, “great friends, good relationship still because we have a family together.”
“My son Remi, my daughter Chloe, they’re both Wisconsin kids, raised here and they are incredible,” Pallangyo boasted with obvious pride.
Even from his new home in the Badger State, Pallangyo remained in the safari business, connecting Wisconsinites and others with the natural wonders of Africa.
“You go on safari and you come back a different person,” Pallangyo said. And one way his clients come back changed is with a newly acquired taste for the flavors of East Africa. This led Pallangyo to open his restaurant.
A visit to Ben’s, just off Stoughton’s Main Street, is a journey of its own. The walls and tables are filled with art and artifacts of his travels and his home country. And Pallangyo himself is always on the move, greeting guests, strongly encouraging them to try the tea he brews up behind the bar and repeatedly popping back into the small kitchen to check progress on the meals.
Those meals are either ordered off the menu, or more likely from Pallangyo’s suggestion of a new special dish. “Our menu changes hourly,” he said with a grin.
For all the unexpected change in direction Pallangyo has seen in his time, there’s no doubt Wisconsin is now his home. As he puts it, “Wisconsin has given me life.”
Andy SothAndy Soth is a reporter for the “Wisconsin Life” project who grew up in a neighboring state but now loves Wisconsin because it’s like Minnesota without the smugness. He joined PBS Wisconsin in 1991 and has spent time at work in the operations, digital, production services, history, news, and local…
Dining and Cooking