Africa: One Land, Many Cuisines

Diane Ridge

Africa, the second largest and second most populous continent in the world after Asia, straddles the equator, its climate ranging from tropical to sub-arctic on its highest peaks.

With 53 countries, definitively classifying African cuisine is impossible — one country is practically vegetarian while another thrives on meat recipes. Generally speaking, the hallmark of native African meals is the use of starch as a focus accompanied by a stew containing meat or vegetables, or both. Maize (corn), cassava, millet, beans, yams and peanuts are key ingredients and traditional green vegetables occupy an important role in household nutrition.

In North Africa the Phoenicians of the First century brought sausages and the Carthaginians introduced wheat and its byproduct, semolina. The Berbers adapted this into couscous, one of the main diet staples. Olives and olive oils were introduced before the arrival of the Romans.

In the 7th century, Arabs introduced a variety of spices, (saffron, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger and cloves). Later the Ottoman Turks brought sweet pastries and other bakery products, and from the New World, North Africa got potatoes, tomatoes, zucchini and chiles.

In the inland savannah of East Africa, meat products are generally absent. Cattle, sheep and goats are regarded as a form of currency and a store of wealth, and are not usually consumed as food.

Here, too, Arabic influences are reflected in the Swahili cuisine with pilaf dishes, the use of sweet spices, and pomegranate juice. The British and Indians brought spiced vegetable curries, lentil soups, chapattis and a variety of pickles. And the Portuguese who brought the techniques of roasting and marinating also introduced oranges, lemons, limes, and “exotic” ingredients like chiles, peppers, tomatoes, pineapple, bananas, and the domestic pig.

Teff with its lightly sweet, molasses-like flavor can be used as a thickener for soups, stews, and gravies. Cooked teff can be mixed with herbs, seeds, beans or tofu, and aromatics to make grain burgers and the seeds can be sprouted for use in salads and on sandwiches.

Central African cooking remains the most traditional though there is the widespread adaptation of cassava, peanut, and chile pepper plants which arrived along with the slave trade during the early 1500s.

The basic ingredients here are plantains and cassava. Fufu-like starchy foods (usually made from fermented cassava roots) are served with grilled meat and sauces. Beef and chicken are favored but game meat preparations containing crocodile, monkey, antelope and warthog, are also served occasionally.

A typical West African meal is heavy with starchy items, light on meat and generous on fat with a high use of hot spices. Favored ingredients include rice, peanuts, black-eyed beans, brown beans, root vegetables, plantains, green peas, okra, citrus fruits, and pineapples, which are legacy of slave ship traffic between Africa and the New World.

Cooking techniques of West Africa often combine fish and meat, including dried fish. French cooking influences in Senegal use touches of lime juice, chopped vegetables including scallions, garlic, and marinades.

The Malay influence of South African cuisine has brought spicy curries, chutneys, curry-marinated pork or lamb kebabs, pickled fish and variety of fish stews. European contributions include Dutch fried crueler or koeksister and milk pies.

During the pioneering days of the 19th century, new foods such as biltong, droë wors (dried sausage) and rusks evolved locally out of necessity. Meat products include lamb, and game like venison, ostrich, and impala as well as a large selection of seafood. South Africa's most unusual meat is called Biltong. It is a spicy form of jerky, wind-dried, used in traveling, snacks, and can be found not only country wide, but throughout the continent.

African Promotions

Festivals

For a list of festivals go to www.africa.net. For general month-to-month listings go to goafrica.about.com/od/africafestivalsandevents/African_Festivals_and_Events.htm; for events in South Africa go to www.southafrica.info

African American Celebration

Ingredients carried from the New World to Africa and back influence many menu items we see in the American South today. Fufu, a stiff cornmeal or yam mush, is related to spoonbreads and cornmeal. Porridges and ground millet, sorghum, teff, barley, and cassava flour make up the fritters, batters, flatbreads, griddle cakes, and grits popular throughout the U.S.

Tap into the resources of some famous African American authors and chefs as a springboard for developing new lunch and catering menus: Anne L. Bower, Rufus Estes, Carolyn Quick Tillery, Maya Angelou, Damon Lee, Edna Lewis, Phoebe Bailey, and Sylvia Woods, to name a few!

African Art: music, textiles and food

Regale your customers' ears with various African music styles, delight them with colorful art and entice them to the table with regional specialties like Doro Wat, a warming stewed chicken dish from East Africa; Morrocan couscous from the North; a spicy fish and meat stew from the West; or an Angolan egg and coconut pudding from the South. Go to www.africaguide.com/cooking for recipes and more cookbooks.

In an African Kitchen

General recipes to regional specialties abound in the pages of these cookbooks.

The Soul of a New Cuisine: A Discovery of the Foods and Flavors of Africa by Marcus Samuelsson, Desmond Tutu, Heidi Sacko Walters, Gediyon Kifle (Photographer), 2006, Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated, $40.00.

The Complete South African Cookbook by Magdaleen van Wyk, 2007, $16. Struik Publishers.

Cooking the East African Way: Revised and Expanded to Include New Low-Fat and Vegetarian Recipes (Easy Menu Ethnic Cookbooks) by Constance Nabwire (Author), Bertha Vining Montgomery. Lerner publications, 2001, $25.

The South African Illustrated Cookbook by Lehla Eldridge, New Holland Publishing, Limited, 2003, $10.95.

A Taste of Africa: Traditional & Modern African Cooking (Paperback) by Dorinda Hafner, Ten Speed Press, 2002, $16.95.

Moroccan Modern by Hassan M'Souli, Joe Filshie (Photographer), 2005, Interlink Publishing Group, Incorporated, $29.95.

Food of Morocco: Authentic Recipes from the North African Coast by Fatema Hal, 2002, Tuttle Publishing, $18.95.

African Spiced Rice

YIELD: 12 Servings

*U.S. Basmati or U.S. Jasmine rice may be used in this recipe.

Recipe from the USA Rice Federation

In an African Pantry

A typical pantry needs a few additions in order to cook authentically African. Here are a few ingredients to add and some terms you may come across in your recipe research.

Baobab tree. Common leaf vegetable throughout mainland Africa. The dry pulp of the fruit, after separation from the seeds and fibers, is eaten directly or mixed into porridge or milk. The seeds are used as a thickener for soups, may be fermented into a seasoning, roasted for direct consumption, or pounded to extract vegetable oil.

Berbere: Red pepper spice paste used in Ethiopia.

Black-eyed Peas
Cardamom

Cassava: The soft-boiled root has a delicate flavor and accompanies meat dishes, or is made into purées, dumplings, soups, stews, and gravies. (Gari is the name of the starch from the cassava.)

Clove

Curry powder

Efo: multipurpose name for greens.

Elubo: yam flour

Foofoo (fufu, foufou): made from starchy root vegetables like mashed yam, cassava, or yam, corn, and plantain pudding. It can also be made from cereal grains or plantains.

Garden Eggs term for a small green skinned African eggplants Used in Ghana in porridge breads.

Mealie (maize) and Mealie meal: corn

Melegueta pepper: West African pepper (substitute cardamon)

Millet: grain bearing grass.

Niter Kibbeh: Clarified butter to which nutmeg, cinnamon, and cardamom seeds are added (with turmeric for color), browned, strained and used as seasoning and cooking oil in Ethiopia.

Okra (called Gombo in West Africa).

Peanuts (groundnuts)

Peri-Peri, piri-piri or peli-peli: African bird's-eye chili often used in preparing sauces and marinades.

Pilau mix: a rice or bulghur-based dish.

Plantain: a starchy banana, cooked like a root vegetable.

Sorghum: cane like grass with a small cereal grain (similar to millet)

Teff: the smallest grain in the world, is high in protein, carbohydrates, and fiber and is gluten free (see photo above).

Turmeric
Watermelon
Yams