The African Gourmet

Today, African food is the most diverse cuisine on the planet, a true “melting pot” of foods and flavors. Africa’s history is rich and so is its cuisine. With influences from so many other countries, Dutch, English, Asian, and Indian, Africa’s new cuisine is the newest global food trend.

The Mediterranean has a place in African foods with its influence of olive oil, olives, and pasta. Rich African stews are infused with elements from both the East and the West. Using little meat, but an abundance of vegetables, African stews have become a gourmet trend.

Southern African cuisine is reminiscent of the East with its sosaties, which are like kebabs, bobotie, which is a curried minced dish, and bredies, which is a type of casserole dish.

It’s all about spice

Africa is all about spice: hot and spicy seasonings characterize the African cuisine. Close your eyes and you’ll be able to recognize the Ethiopian seasoning mix, Berbere, which is a combination of chilies, chives, tarragon, coriander, cardamom, fenugreek, and garlic.

The unique flavors of the African new cuisine are dependent on the abundant use of various specific aromatic plants and other spices. Fenugreek, for example, is used a lot and has a bittersweet flavor. Cassava is a starch root and is used to thicken stews. Bambara are African peanuts and are used in various dishes. Similar to cardamom, grains of paradise are strong pepper-flavored seeds and used to flavor stews. Other seeds that are used for flavor include the Egusi seeds. African spices are often mixed. Some spice mixes, such as the Ras Al-Hanout includes over 25 different ingredients, such as rose petals, turmeric, cinnamon, cumin and grains of paradise.
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Author: Dylan Miles

Photo C. Feezel

Other natural foods are much sweeter than processed sugar. Whether sugar is in the form of honey, sugar cane, beets or refined sugar it is a universal and versatile ingredient. African sweets will surely satisfy anyone’s sweet tooth. You will find that “sweet is sweet” no matter what continent you happen to live on. Sweet is one of the five central human tastes. Sugary desserts across the world are looked upon as a satisfying experience. Sugarcane is much sweeter than processed sugar. Native to the warm temperate to tropical regions sugarcane is a natural sweet treat. Sugarcane is cultivated for its natural sweet juice; there are many uses of sugar cane including the production of table and brown sugar, molasses, rum and soda. Besides commercial uses for sugarcane, more often people simply peel the outer bark of the sugarcane carefully with a sharp knife. Cut away the hard fibrous portions above and below the editable softer portion of the sugarcane. Cut the pieces of sugarcane into desired portions, chew to extract the juices and expel the fibrous stalks. All photo’s of African people on epicurean.africanfoodie website credit USAID.

What holiday’s are celebrated in Africa you may ask, well believe it or not the “official” holiday’s are not much different than in the US. In Southern African the independent nation of Lesotho, officially the Kingdom of Lesotho Christmas and Good Friday are celebrated.The Kingdom of Lesotho under King Moshoeshoe II became an independent nation October 4, 1966. Up high in the mountains of Southern Africa Lesotho is completely surrounded by South Africa. Lesotho is slightly smaller than the U.S. state of Maryland. Greater than 80% of the country of Lesotho is 1,800 m (a little more than 1 mile) above sea level. Imagine dancing and cooking for celebrations in those high altitudes.

Lesotho National Holidays
1. New Year’s Day- January 1st
2. Moshoeshoe’s Day- March 11th
3. Good Friday- April 6th
4. Easter Monday-April 9th
5. Workers’ Day- May1st
6. Ascension Day-May 17th
7. Africa/Heroes’ Day- May 25th
8. The King’s Birthday- July 17th
9. Independence Day-October 4th
10. Christmas Day- December 25th
11. Boxing Day- December 26th

Photo by USAID l. lartigue

It is a common belief green figs (unripe) were commonly eaten by male lovers to increase virility. This ancient Viagra is surely a tribute to the fruit’s strength-giving passionate qualities. A virile recipe given to me by one of friends is fig tea. To make fig tea, take half a pound of dried figs and wash well. Cut up roughly and put into a large size sauce pan along with 6 cups of water. Simmer for 1 hour until the liquid is reduced to thick tea like consentaneity similar to smoothie. Process through a sieve to remove the pulp if desired. Add a little lemon juice if preferred. By the way lemon juice is also an old remedy for the removal of blackheads.

Next time you order your favorite coffee blend from starbucks consider the fact you may be drinking Ethiopian coffee. Africa is the second largest of the earth’s continents after Asia. Africa comprises almost ¼ of the world’s total land mass. One country in Africa in particular is Ethiopia. Ethiopia is slightly less than twice the size of Texas. Ethiopia’s Sidamo province is the birth place of coffee. Yes, Ethiopia and not Columbia or Guatemala. Starbucks and Ethiopian coffee, Starbucks serves three varieties of Ethiopian coffee they are Sidamo, Yirgacheffe and Harrar. Depending on the time of year you can also find Ethiopian whole coffee beans at your local grocery store. Kenya also produces fantastic coffees. Coffee in Ethiopia is dealt with respect n regards to serving ceremonies which are a daily essential element in Ethiopian life.