Original Story Published by: Emily Price for The National
Photo Source: ©Eliis Parrinder
(Above) Steamed jollof rice by Lope Ariyo.
Do you know your puff puff from your jollof? We present a guide to the bold flavours of dishes from the west of the continent.
It may only be March, and some would say it’s too early to make such a call, but we think 2019 might well be the year that West African food, with its bold flavours, thrifty use of high-fibre fruit and vegetables, complex tastes and contrasting textures, begins to receive the international culinary appreciation it deserves.
The key indicators are certainly there. Social media is awash with images of West African dishes, the number of blogs celebrating the cuisine is on the rise, and restaurants serving modern interpretations of the traditional food of Sierra Leone, Senegal, Gambia and Nigeria, in particular, are slowly but surely opening up all over the world.
At the end of last year, fine-dining restaurant Ikoyi in London became the first West African restaurant to be awarded a Michelin star. And while ingredients such as yams, Scotch bonnet peppers, guava, black-eyed peas, cocoyam and cassava might not yet be part of the average cook’s daily repertoire, they are becoming well known and used.
Gbemi Giwa is from western Nigeria and is the creative force behind Catfish. The restaurant delivery service in Dubai showcases West African food in a holistic way, using modern cooking and wellness techniques to produce a menu that is free from gluten, genetically modified ingredients, dairy and refined sugar.
When asked about this wave of interest in the food of her homeland, she points out that trying to encapsulate the recipes, dishes and culinary history of so many different countries under one umbrella term or in a few words is tricky to say the least. “West African cuisine is as nuanced and diverse as the hundreds of ethnic groups in the region, so it’s hard to place a collective label on the numerous dishes across the region."
To read the full article, visit The National.
Related
