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African
Cuisine
African
cuisine, formerly not well known in the West, is growing in
popularity as immigrants bring the dishes of their country
to small family restaurants in the West. To a traveler, it
would be impossible to categorize "African food"
just as it would be impossible to state the cuisine of any
continent by one name. If you are intrepid, and take a safari
tour from Kenya, your culinary experience will be much different
from eating at the French and British influenced restaurants
of Johannesburg,
tasting Doro Wat of Ethiopia, Portuguese inspired spices of
Angola and Mozambique, or the coconut and fish stews of Nairobi.
Yet, all are part of African cuisine.
The
prime characteristic of native African meals is the use of
starch as a focus; accompanied by a stew containing meat or
vegetables, or both. Starch filler foods, similar to the rice
cuisines of Asia, are a hallmark. Cassava and yams are main
root vegetables. Steamed greens, mixtures of hot spices with
root vegetables, stew with and without meat, particularly
chicken, all are African inspired. Peanuts, called groundnuts
in Africa, feature heavily in many dishes from a garnish to
peanut soups. Melons, particularly watermelon, are popular.
African
Cuisine influence on American South Dishes
What
are ingredients for the traveler? African American cooking,
with ingredients carried from the New World to Africa and
back, gives us some clues. Mealie, the African name
for corn, is used to make the soft cornmeal mush and batters
that are a characteristic of African and American southern
foods today. Fufu, brought to America by Nigerian slaves,
is a stiff cornmeal or yam mush, directly related to southern
spoonbreads and cornmeal. Porridges and ground millet, sorghum,
teff, barley, and cassava flour make up the fritters, batters,
flatbreads, griddle cakes, and grits known not only in the
American South, but is part of the homemaker's repertoire
in Africa.
Staples
in African Cuisine
Yams, plantains, green bananas and cassava are the essential
staples in Africa. These vegetables are grown and used all
over the continent, either on their own or combined with others.
Meat, on the other hand, is often used merely as one of a
number of flavorings, rather than as a main ingredient in
cooking. Vegetables, beans and lentils are definitely the
most popular food staples throughout the continent, although
animal products are used whenever available.
Food
Production
Most food staples are produced on small scale, in a household
based subsistence economy in Africa. The typical household
grows its main staples, such as millet, sorghum and groundnuts
in savannah areas, with more emphasis on rice were there is
sufficient water available. One or more cash crops, in this
example groundnut, are mostly produced for sale, while other
crops are mostly for local consumption. Additionally, many
households have small gardens with horticulture around their
compounds, that is when water and means of fencing are available.
Horticulture
may include vegetables such as plantains and onion and a variety
of herbs and spices. These are consumed locally and sold on
local markets.
Other
major food stables, such as wheat and rice, are also imported
on a wide scale from Asia, Europe and North America, especially
in countries where the climate does not admit wide scale cultivation
of such basic food staples.
Ingredients
in African
Cooking
Historically, the African taste and use of ingredients has
changed a great deal. Before intercontinental trade started
at a wide scale, the most important vegetable food staples
were rice, sorghum, millet, barley and lentils. In the eastern
part of the continent (especially in Kenya) Arabs did start
the cosmopolitan trend in local cuisine, sailing in their
dried fruits, rice, spices and expanding the diets of the
coastal cal gardeners. They also brought oranges, lemons and
limes from China and India, as well as domestic pigs. The
British were the next to influence eating and drinking habits,
importing new breeds of sheep, goats and cattle, together
with strawberries and asparagus. They also planted high-quality
coffee.
In
general European explorers and traders introduced several
important food staples to the continent, after their first
journeys to America and Asia. Important staples, which had
been cultivated by the Indian cultures of the Americas, found
their way to the "old continents". Beans, cassava,
groundnuts, maize, tomatoes and sweet potatoes thus were introduced
to Africa as a direct cause of the European exploring of the
American continent. Asian seasonings like pepper, cinnamon,
clove, curry and nutmeg were introduced as well.
Today
the principal food crops in the western part of the continent
are cereals; millet, sorghum, rice and maize. Root crops such
as manioc, cocoyams, sweet potato and yams are also important
locally. Perennial cash crops include both groundnuts and
soybeans.
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