African food: The next gastronomic trend?
African food is widely available in London and Paris with their large African populations and historic ties to the continent. Peter Okwoche, a self-confessed gourmet and BBC presenter from Nigeria, has been finding out if it has a wider appeal.
An avid experimenter, she believes there are lots of healthy African food dishes that have a wide appeal.
The whole ground floor of her home has been turned into a massive, elegant and modern kitchen.
In one corner there is a computer where she writes down all the recipes that she comes up with.
“This is where I feel truly feel free,” she says.
[caption id="attachment_23130" align="alignright" width="300"]
West Africans can get touchy about changing the recipe of jollof rice[/caption]
When we visit, she is making a dish called “yam croquette”, which sounds more French than Ghanaian.
The main ingredients of a croquette – a fried bread-crumbed roll served as delicacy or a fast food – are usually mashed potatoes and/or ground meat.
Ms Gilbert replaces the potatoes with yams – and serves it with a light stew made with tomatoes and traditional Ghanaian seasoning.
It is brilliant and my cameraman, who is English and has never tried any African food before, was immediately hooked.
For French-Ivorian gourmet chef Loic Dable food is art[/caption]
Calling herself “the executive Mama Put” – after the colloquial name for food stall vendors in Nigeria – she now organises cookouts, inviting people of different nationalities to come and have a taste of her take on Nigerian food.
And in all fairness, African food is beginning to get a reputation; Ms Iweka sees it is as “the final frontier of cuisine”.
So much so that when British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver came up with his own take on jollof rice, a traditional West African dish akin to a paella or risotto, he caused uproar in the West African online community for substituting some traditional ingredients with those easier to find in Europe.
But there are those who argued that a famous cook acknowledging an African dish means the continent’s cuisine is making inroads into Europe.
Injera is made from teff, considered the new “super grain” as it is high in protein and calcium[/caption]
Its speciality now – like other Ethiopian and Eritrean eateries – is injera, a fried sourdough flatbread.
Made from teff, a cereal which is very low in gluten, it is served with stews and curries and is usually eaten by hand.
“I couldn’t believe we were number one within 11 months… it was a very nice feeling,” says Ms Shewa.
Other popular foreign cuisines have evolved to cater for European palates – take tikka masala curry, which was invented in the UK.
More European-based African cooks now seem to be trying to please a more diverse crowd.
The Blue Nile website emphasises the gluten-free aspect of its menu and its “wide range of vegetarian dishes”.
“Last week, we had some costumers from Iceland and also from Sweden and different nationalities and it’s nice,” says Ms Shewa.
*BBC]]>