African Cuisine Magazine March 2016

Reporting the Best Of African Cuisine In The Diaspora

AFRICAN CUISINE MAGAZINE

The Rise of African Rice

Are You Selling Food Online?

What the Law says

CELEBRITY TABLETALK

Fikelephi Jackson

“Life is not a Rehearsal”

African All The Goodness of Africa

OCTOBER 2013 Vol 1 No 8

Interna�onal Magazine Celebra�ng the Best of Africa’s Food & Drink in the Diaspora

CONTENTS FIRST QUARTER 2016 CELEBRITY TABLETALK

PAULINE LONG ON BEFFTA, MOTHERHOOD, FOOD AND MENTORING

BEFFTA AWARDS UK 2013 DELICIOUS DELICACIES FOR NIGERIA’S 53RD ANNINERSARY EATING OUT ETHIOPIAN STYLE UGANDA SEEKS INVESTORS NOODLEMANIA IN AFRICAN SOCIETY - ANY PITFALLS?

CELEBRITY TABLETALK

Afric an CUISINE All The Goodness of Africa

The Best of Africa’s Food & Drink in the Diaspora SUMMER 2013 Vol. 1 DOUBLE ISSUE

CELEBRITY TABLETALK

THEODORA IBEKWE ‘THERE’S NO SHAME IN ENJOYING YOUR FOOD’ BIOGRAPHY OF FOOD Taste Cocoyam and Smile

RAMADAN MUBARAK WHAT AND HOW TO EAT DURING THE FAST

BIOGRAPHY OF FOOD The Delight of African Cherry Orange

TRAVEL & THE FOOD Central African Republic: Citadel of Cassava, Okra and Palmwine

NEWS & REPORTS The Rise of Are You Selling African Rice Food Online?

What the Law says

OUT&ABOUT

Accredited* Among the Best

WINE & BEVERAGE REPORT LAST WORD What is Sobolo?

Africa just outside of your Hilton Hotel window by Pius Adesanmi

You Are Invited!

Karibu!

I

t’s been a while. ACM has been in the kitchen cooking up surprises.

We refreshed our brand. We hope you like our new look. We have a new logo. It centres a huge communal pot around three bright colours that project the vibrancy of Africa and its delights. Our new website is coming online in a few weeks and it will offer an exciting experience.

It was a special delight to share a meal with Fikelephi Jackson and her husband, Colin as she talked about her charity work that arose from her escape for domestic abuse. Join us at Celebrity TableTalk.

805 Restaurant has been in the news lately.

Star Wars, John Boyega took his co-actor, the legendary Harrison Ford, to a meal there. It’s also where we dined with our Celebrity TableTalk guest as well. We will be sharing our experience with you as well.

Accredited* Among the Best

Accredited* Among the Best

African Cuisine Magazine Page 5

NEWS & REPORTS ‘Calabash Chalk’ warning

The details of the temporary suspension are outlined in regulation (EU) 2015/943.

Calabash chalk is not a conventional food, but is eaten by some pregnant women, traditionally those from the Nigerian and wider West African community, as a remedy

The European Commission is working with the competent authorities in Nigeria, which are currently developing appropriate risk-management measures.

See more at: https://www.food.gov.uk/businessindustry/imports/banned-restricted/temporarysuspension-on-imports-of-dried-beans-fromnigeria#sthash.i4o5T7fV.dpuf

Food Standards Agency signs pledge to cut food waste The Foods Standards Agency pledged its support today to the UK’s resource efficiency charity WRAP which brings together organisations from across the food system to make food and drink production and consumption more sustainable for the future.

The Food Standards Agency is a founding signatory in WRAP’s Courtauld 2025 campaign which will: for morning sickness. The Food Standards Agency has advised people, especially pregnant and breast-feeding women, not to eat Calabash chalk, because samples tested have revealed high levels of lead.

See more at: https://www.food.gov.uk/business-industry/ imports#sthash.4KxiPrlM.dpuf

Red 2G colouring prohibition Following a European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) evaluation of the food colouring Red 2G (E128), the European Commission has prohibited imports of food containing Red 2G, because the colouring may have genotoxic and carcinogenic effects that can potentially damage cells and cause cancer in animals.

There is a temporary suspension of imports of dried beans from Nigeria until 30 June 2016.

• Reduce the resource intensity of the UK’s food and drink by one-fifth, saving £20 billion in 10 years.

• Bring together leading organisations from across the food chain to work together to tackle food and drink waste, greenhouse gas emissions and water intensity.

• Gather signatories including all major UK food retailers, brands, food service companies, trade bodies and local authorities (90 are already signed up).

The FSA will build on the work it has done with WRAP and Love Food Hate Waste already to help people reduce food waste and get more value from the food and drink they buy. In fact, this year the FSA is focusing on food waste for its annual Food Safety Week (June 2016) and has put forward its head of Food Safety, Michael Wight, on WRAP’s Courtauld 2025 steering group.

Michael Wight, Head of Food Safety at the Food Standards Agency said: ‘Food is a valuable commodity and this is why we cannot afford to let food go to waste.

We welcome WRAP’s initiative and will be focusing on food waste this year for Food Safety Week 2016.

‘We want to help consumers get more value from foods they consume by understanding the broader issues around sustainability. We also want consumers to be empowered with the right tools to understand how their behaviours and shopping habits can help to reduce food waste.’

Since January 2013 there have been more than 50 food safety notifications concerning the presence of pesticide residues, which can cause acute neurotoxicity, found in dried beans originating in Nigeria.

See more at: http://www.food.gov.uk/news-updates/ news/2016/14995/food-standards-agency-signs-pledgeto-cut-food-waste#sthash.uSKUxCEt.dpuf

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POLICY & BUSINESS

Are you selling food online?

The UK Food Standards Agency has produced guidance for food businesses on selling food for delivery. This type of selling is known as distance selling. It includes online selling and mail order.

What is distance selling?

Distance selling means any selling carried out without face-to-face contact with the consumer, eg. via the internet, SMS text messaging, phone calls, faxing, interactive TV or mail order.

What do I need to do when setting up a distance selling food business?

When you start a mail order or internet based food business you must, like any other food business, register with the Environmental Health Department of your local council at least 28 days before opening. You should also take advice on legal requirements from them and the Trading Standards Department.

How quickly should food be delivered if it’s sent by post or courier?

If foods that need refrigerating (such as fish, meat products, cooked foods, many dairy products and readyprepared salads) are sent by post or courier, they should be delivered as quickly as possible, ideally overnight, and they should be kept cool until delivery. All foods must be delivered to consumers in a way that ensures that they do not become injurious to human health or unfit for human consumption. If you need advice concerning food safety for specific products you may wish to contact one of the food research associations or firms that carry out public analyst work.

When the consumer places an order, make sure the consumer knows when they can expect delivery. If foods that need refrigerating are delivered late, this might mean they haven’t been kept cool enough.

What laws will apply to my distance selling food business?

When you sell food by mail order or via the internet, the food you sell is subject to the full body of UK food law – please see in particular, the sections on general food law (safety, traceability, withdrawal and recall), hygiene and labelling in the Regulations section of this website (link below), and also any laws specific to the type of food which you are selling. You should bear in mind in particular when considering the safety aspects of selling food by distance selling the condition which the food is likely to be in when it reaches the purchaser. The main law on distance selling is the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, which applies to all goods sold by distance selling, not just food. This lays down important requirements such as: the information which the seller needs to provide to the purchase before making the sale rights to cancel the contract recovery of sums paid on cancellation restoration of goods by the consumer after cancellation It also gives an exception for delivery of food and drink to a consumer’s residence or workplace, for example milk deliveries.

If you are selling via the internet, the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002 will also apply to your business.

More information about online and distance selling can be found on the GOV.UK website.

See more at: https://www.food.gov.uk/business-industry/caterers/ startingup/distanceguide#sthash.neSuk3XR.dpuf

How should food be packaged if it’s sent through the post?

You should send food to consumers in packaging that is strong enough to remain intact. Foods that need refrigerating (such as fish, meat products, cooked foods, many dairy products and ready-prepared salads) must be kept cool while they are being transported. Sometimes they will need to be packed in an insulated box with a coolant gel, or in a cool bag. Any packaging should be capable of protecting the food while it is in transit.

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Halifax woman preserving African Nova Scotian culture through food

FOOD CULTURE

'We do have a very unique culture and collection of foods that we are very interested in passing along'

FOOD CULTURE

Nebraskans are eating uncooked mackerel. By that logic, vague anxieties about slimy okra don’t stand a chance of stopping Senegelese cuisine.

‘Prospects good for West African cuisine in U.S.’ Hanna Raskin, Email @ hannaraskin Mar 10 2016 6:00 am

M

ary Etta N'Jie

serves up a sample of damoda, a beef and peanut sauce dish from Gambia.

N'Jie offered about 10 different recipes from Africa during the 15th annual Sea Islands Cultural Arts Festival on Johns Island. (9/20/07) Mary Etta N'Jie serves up a sample of damoda, a beef and peanut sauce dish from Gambia. N'Jie offered about 10 different recipes from Africa during the 15th annual Sea Islands Cultural Arts Festival on Johns Island. (9/20/07)

W

hen Wendie Poitras was growing up in north-end Halifax, Sunday dinners were special.

Her dad would be in the kitchen, cooking up boiled dinner with pig tails instead of the traditional corned beef. There would be corn bread, root vegetables, as well as beet greens and Swiss chard cooked in bacon fat and pork trimmings.

Blueberries, which could be picked for free, were turned into a version of blueberry grunt for dessert.

An exploration of black communities around Nova Scotia It's that part of her African Nova Scotian culture she is trying to preserve. On this day, she is frying up another family recipe — salt cod fish cakes with curry mayonnaise — for her Grade 3 class at Duc D'Anville Elementary School.

Salted fish cakes Wendie Poitras recently coordinated an event at The Company House in Halifax in collaboration with EDNA restaurant that featured an African Nova Scotia menu.

(Amy Smith/CBC) "It's something that we're just starting to talk about and publicize it and make people aware that we do have a very unique culture and collection of foods that we are very interested in passing along to our children," she said.

"Just because of the history and how we came to this province and how we came to this continent we lost a lot and so doing things like this is us trying to get it back.

Trying to reclaim our culture."

Poitras said many of the recipes are similar to those found in church cookbooks around the province, but with a twist, bringing in elements from Africa and the American South.

Collection and fusion "It's the collection and the fusion of the food that makes it special," she said, She would often teach her daughter the baking techniques her mom taught her. Now she is passing the love of African Nova Scotian cuisine to her classroom.

Contd. on page 12

Page 8 African Cuisine Magazine

When industry experts issue their lists of trends to monitor in the year ahead, they nearly always include one or two foreign cuisines that are supposedly poised to enter the American pantry. If they’re feeling particularly spunky, they might cite an esoteric sub-region of Eastern Europe or an Andean cooking style that aligns perfectly with a raging diet fad. Mostly, though, in the past few years, they’ve mentioned Korean food and dishes from West Africa.

It’s the latter prediction that’s of particular interest to the Lowcountry, because this region wouldn’t exist in its current physical or cultural state without people from the Windward Coast, which extends from present-day Senegal to Liberia.

In the 1700s, enslaved Africans accounted for 75 percent of South Carolina’s population. Unlike the Europeans who forcibly brought them here, they knew how to grow rice, which provided the foundation for a cuisine that closely tracks West African cookery. Senegalese cuisine, for example, leans heavily on seafood, okra, peanuts, sweet potatoes and black-eyed peas. Sound familiar?

Still, there are absolutely no signs that Americans diners

are on the cusp of becoming familiar with Senegalese food. There are no celebrity chefs championing it, or giant food manufacturers promoting potato chips or frozen snacks featuring its distinctive flavors. And yet, a food authority as estimable as Mimi Sheraton – who literally wrote the book on the 1000 most essential dishes from around the world -- says there’s cause for optimism.

I recently had lunch with Sheraton, who served as the New York Times’ first female restaurant critic; Nathalie Dupree set us up. Sheraton firmly believes that a cuisine associated with West Africa – it has to be identified with a particular region, she specified – could make inroads here. She bases her theory on the fact that the most iconic dishes look like dishes that U.S. eaters already know, such as gumbo.

Since Sheraton just celebrated her 90th birthday, I asked her which international cooking style had made the most unlikely leap into the mainstream. She had an immediate answer: Sushi.

“I never thought Americans would eat raw fish,” she said.

But sushi appealed to Americans because it looked pretty and seemed stylish; its embrace by the fashion world was critical, Sheraton says. Once Hollywood types were photographed eating California rolls, it was inevitable that sushi would eventually show up in supermarket grab-and-go display cases. Plus, Sheraton told me, “Americans will eat whatever writers tell them to eat.”

(Maybe she was playing to the crowd.)

That’s all it takes, she assured me. Some panache, some press – and before you know it, Nebraskans are eating uncooked mackerel. By that logic, vague anxieties about slimy okra don’t stand a chance of stopping Senegelese

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RESTAURANT REVIEW

It’s a Whole New Game at 805!

RESTAURANT REVIEW

drinks from the heart of Africa.

It was a fine dining experience and the service was fabulous. It was our pleasure to speak with the proprietor and the manager afterwards. They’re doing a great job.

Next to our table sat two young ‘white’ girls tackling ‘Iyan’ with Ogbono soup and Jollof Rice. Next to them were a group of three young ‘white’ boys. They were eating Jollof Rice. On asking how they came about 805, they said they lived locally and heard that it was a very good place to eat.

They said they loved it1 Well, enough said. We had some feedback from some of the diners: Sofia wrote us and said: “I ordered the pounded yam and ogbono soup with fried fish and plantain on the side. The plantain was delicious but overpriced for the amount you get. The pounded

Monika - Grilled Croaker Fish with Fried plantains

T

ry booking a table at an 805 restaurant and you’ll see that the tables are hard to come by. Especially on a week day!

In fact, weekday, weekend, festive season or not, 805 has a loyal clientele and attracts a huge number of curious debutante tasters of African cuisine.

The evidence stares you in the face there were many diners of numerous nationalities seated and eating African food.

And 805 serves it very well. On our visit to the Old Kent Road outlet, we had a party of five. We were well received and the staff were very corteous. Placing us at our preferred table was without any fuss. Our table server gave us advice on the menu while taking care not to be unduly prescriptive. In our group were two Nigerians, one South African and another from the Carribean.

We ordered Iyan (Pounded Yam with the Efo Riro and

assorted meat; Jollof Rice with Plantains with Beef; two servings of Monika - Full size Croaker fish with fried plantains and side salad.

The Iyan was excellent, with a soft texture and subtlety in taste testifying to its yam roots. The Efo Riro was delicious, its crunchy greens interspersed with little red chillies and ‘Iru’ (locust beans). The assorted meat was a mix of beef, Shaki - beef tripe and cow leg. They were not overcooked but well enough to be chewed comfortably.

The Monika was also superb. The fish was tender and its juices expressed a tropical shower of ingredients captivating in every bite. And, finally, the Jollof rice was divine. We ordered an additional serving to embed the experience.

Of course, we had to have the obligatory African beer! This time, it was Nigerian Star beer that caressed the palate which had indulged the palatable food. And our party also had non-alcoholic Malta Guinness too. Two very authentic

African Cuisine Magazine Page 10

Jollof Rice yam and ogbono was very nice and the portion was more than enough. Overall the food was very nice. Service was also impressive and the waiter was extremely polite and attentive.” There you have it. 805 brings a whole new game to African cuisine in the diaspora.

Total bill for 4 adults - £86.50 FOR BOOKINGS : http://805restaurants.com 805 Old Kent Road London United Kingdom SE15 1NX Tel: +44 207 639 0808 Email: info@805restaurants.com

60 Vivian Avenue Hendon Central United Kingdom NW4 3XH Tel: +44 208 202 9449 Email: info@805restaurants.com

Iyan with Efo Riro

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FOOD CULTURE

TRAVEL & THE FOOD

Halifax woman preserving African Nova Scotian culture through food

Contd. from page 8 Her students were eager to dig in to the fish cakes.

"They smell pretty good," Katelynn Harpelle said with a grin. "I can't wait to get my hands on one."

Fellow student Rami Awad said he is always up for trying new food.

"Super excited," he said. "Because I really want to try other people's things because if they are yummy I can make more of them and eat them."

It's that kind of enthusiasm Poitras hopes to spread.

Sunday dinners Recently Poitras coordinated an event at the Company House in Halifax in collaboration with EDNA restaurant featuring an African Nova Scotia menu.

Diners happily dug in to fish cakes, baked beans, boiled dinner with ham hocks and sweet potato pie.

"The recipes are there. People have been cooking them for generations," Poitras said. "It's collecting the recipes and having that common body of knowledge where people can actually come to."

MABOKE

Central African Republic

In keeping with her family tradition, she's now the one cooking up Sunday dinner when everyone gets together, "I usually try and do up a big feed for them and they are always requesting those traditional foods like the fish cakes and the chowders and the boiled dinners," Poitras said.

"Not so easy to get pig tails any more, but you can get them from the butcher. But you are not going to see pig tails in the grocery store."

Courtesy of http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/african-novascotian-food

B

angui

is the capital of the Central African Republic, and the staple diet of the people there includes cassava, rice, squash, pumpkins and plantains (served with a sauce) and grilled meat.

Okra or gombo is a popular vegetable. Peanuts and peanut butter are widely used. Game is popular, as are the fish-based dishes such as mabokĂŠ.[8] Manioc flour is used for preparing fufu.[9]

Bushmeat Cassava and cassava greens Chicken and cumin stew

FUFU... It is often made with cassava flour

There are three types of restaurants in Bangui. Some focus on foreign cuisine, such as 'Relais des Chasses', 'La Tentation' and 'L'Escale', which are orientated towards French food, and 'Ali Baba' and 'Beyrouth', which serve Lebanese cuisine food. There are a large number of African restaurants, such as the "Madame M'boka", a favorite of the locals. A number of bars and street food stalls compliment Bangui's culinary scene.[10]

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What they eat...

Fruit, such as oranges, pineapple, plantain and banana Foutou, pounded plantains - Both fufu and foutou are eaten like bread and often served with stews, soups and sauces Mashed yams are also sometimes used to prepare foutou.

Fufu, pounded cassava Fulani Boullie, a porridge with rice, peanut butter, millet flour and lemon Gozo, a paste prepared from cassava flour Kanda ti nyma, spicy meatballs made with beef Muama de galinha, chicken with okra and palm oil Muamba, a stew made with minced palm nuts. Tomato, peanuts and chicken are often added Palm butter soup,[5] prepared with palm butter Spinach, often cooked with groundnuts Spinach stew Shrimp with boiled sweet potato/ boiled yam

Chichinga, skewered barbecued goat Egusi sauce, common in many areas of Central Africa Fish, such as Capitaine (Nile perch), which is fished at the river in Bangui

African Cuisine Magazine Page 13

Central African Republic

What they drink...

Non-alcoholic beverages Coffee Tea (tea and coffee are prepared with sugar and evaporated milk from cans) Ginger beer Karkanji is a hibiscus flower drink from the north.

Alcoholic beverages[edit] Palm wine Banana wine Soft drinks Traditional beer used sorghum Beer brands include Mocaf and Export (beer brand) Alcohol made from cassava or sorghum “Roadside stalls sell foods such as baked goods and makara (a type of fried bread), sandwiches, barbecued meat and snacks. In the forests and in markets of Bangui where forest items are sold, caterpillars and the koko leaf are eaten.”

Adventurous palate?

What you eat in Bangui... as visitors say...

‘Well Bangui is not a cozy and touristic place but if you are looking for a restaurant, where to eat something special, you should come here! I have eaten a good antelope (watch out to find out small bullets),

maboke (a traditional dish

done with fish and cooked in banana leaves, I suggest the curry variety) and sometimes you can even find Python and crocodile...’

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No. 6 African Star Apple:

BIOGRAPHY OF FOOD

Chrysophyllum Albidum

‘AGBALUMO’, Yoruba, south-west Nigeria, ‘UDARA’, Igbo, south-east Nigeria; ‘OMUBORO’, Uganda Chrysophyllum Albidum is a species of flowering plant in the citrus family, Rutaceae. It is native to tropical West Africa.

The species is usually a shrub, sometimes a tree.

The leaves are up to 33 centimeters long and are made up of pointed leaflets. The inflorescence is a cluster of flowers with four white petals each nearly 2 centimeters long. The style may be 1.5 centimeters long. The fruit is 2 or 3 centimeters long.

In Uganda, an infusion made of the ground root of omuboro, drunk once a day for three days is considered to be a powerful aphrodisiac for men only. Science has not investigated the veracity of this belief. The herbal preparation is sold locally.

Conservationists in Uganda are concerned that demand for the plant is such that the species may require conservation efforts.

Distributional range: Native: Africa: Cameroon; Cote D’Ivoire; Gabon; Ghana; Nigeria [south]; Sierra Leone; Sudan; Tanzania; Togo; Uganda; Zaire Nutritional Value of African cherry orange There are several benefits using it and they are also known as Citropsis schweinfurthii. Compared to any other fruit, quite a few nutrition experts have affirmed the unusual nutritional benefits of the fruit together with its efficacy in the prevention and management of certain

ailments.

Nutritional experts say that, this fruit contains 5 per cent of the daily recommended value per serving of vitamin C and vitamin A. It is also believed that the leaves of the fruit condensed glucose levels in diabetic rabbits, the same function that insulin in the human body act upon.

Furthermore, one serving of cherry serves up to 2 per cent of iron, a mineral very important for oxygenating your body, that you need every day. They can also be consumed generously as a great source of phytochemical.

Health Benefits of African cherry orange Preventing Heart disease.

Reducing Aging skin.

Manage diabetes.

Energizing Brain Cells.

Sources:

http://www.fruitsinfo.com/african-cherry-orange. php#Nutritional-Value

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BIOGRAPHY OF FOOD

African Star Apple: Chrysophyllum Albidum has been adapted in desserts by foremost Chef and Food Blogger, Funke Koleosho.

Here’s what she has to say ... is in season and just

like many other fruits, it has the tartness and sweetness often required to make desserts.

Actually agbalumo offers something extra, a firmer, chewy texture. Find out how you can prepare it and serve as dessert here...http:// funke-koleosho.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/ agbalumo-ice-cream-excitingly-delish.html

Funke Koleosho’s Agbalumo + Ice-cream

Ingredients: 3-4 agbalumo fruits (Peel the skin and finely chop the flesh. Carefully remove the seeds and use as part of your garnish) 1 large tub of your favourite vanilla ice-cream (ensure you get a good quality vanilla ice-cream.

Chocolate or other flavour ice-creams do not work for this recipe).

Some crushed Oreo biscuits (make sure you remove the cream from the biscuit first.

Alternatively use any of your preferred biscuits).

Some crushed chin-chin (optional).

Some crushed roasted ground nuts/peanuts (optional).

Some honey or cane sugar syrup. (You can also use more healthy alternatives like maple syrup or agave nectar).

First prepare the fruit well in advance of making your ice-cream cake. In a small container, add some syrup to the chopped agbalumo. Add as much or as little syrup as you wish. The more syrup the sweeter and mellower the taste. Allow this to marinate for at least 6 hours or overnight. The longer the better.

Remove the ice-cream from the freezer and allow to stand for a short while to melt a little. When melted enough to incorporate other ingredients, transfer into a mixing bowl and add the crushed biscuits, chin-chin and peanuts (if using). Also add a good portion of the syrup marinated agbalumo. (Save some to serve with

the ice-cream cake later).

Mix well for an even distribution of all ingredients.

Line any available bowl, cake pan or jelly mould, with some cling film (or food grade cellophane wrap). This will facilitate easy removal of the frozen ice-cream cake.

Transfer the ice-cream mixture into the lined bowl.

Gently tap the bowl on the table to level the mixture, and remove any air bubbles trapped in.

Place the bowl into the freezer and allow to freeze preferably overnight. Serve with the remaining syrup marinated agbalumo with the whole cluster of seeds.

HOW TO PROCESS AGBALUMO http://www.kitchenbutterfly.com/2015/03/26/how-to-process-agbalumo/ Page 16 African Cuisine Magazine

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CELEBRITY

TABLETALK

“I knew that while I was still feeling hurt and carrying all of this baggage - hurt, shame, stigma, low self-esteem, humiliation, self-pity, worthlessness... all in one suitcase...I had to let it go.”

Author, Radio Presenter, Mentor

FIKELEPHI JACKSON Founder, Against All Odds Still Standing

Fikelephi Jackson, Against All odds (I Survived)

Fikelephi Jackson does not strike you instantly as someone with a story that can be couched in the quotation from her powerful personal story narrated in her book, ‘Against All Odds (I Survived!)’. When we met her at the grand 805 Restaurant on London’s Old Kent Road, she was accompanied by her husband, Colin who also features in Fikelephi’s tale of personal struggle, affirmation and restoration. Her first words ‘ Where do I start?’ opened up a box of surprises touching on many dimensions of the human condition.

It also confirmed the aged truth of never judging a book by its cover.

And so, our guest’s story started in far-away South Africa, migrating through Swaziland into Zimbabwe and to England.

Fikelephi is the founder of Against All Odds, a UK charity (http:// aosuk.org) that focuses on ending violence and abuse against women & girls. It carries out the work by seeking to safeguard and protect the civil liberties of women & girls both within the UK and abroad.

According to Fikelephi, the aim is to raise awareness of the plight of women and children whereever abuses and inequalities exist. To achieve this goal, her group provides

support that relieves the needs of victims and empowers them to recover and thrive as survivors.

‘We work in partnership with other organisations to rebuild lives and restore hope’, she says.

Who wears the shoe knows where it pinches. Fikelephi herself bore the brunt of personal spousal domestic abuse. And it is this personal experience that energises our tabletalk with her. In a frank, unstinting manner, she opens up on her experience of physical and psychological abuse by her husband while she was a young woman in South Africa.

Early marriage had come upon her

as a result of the sudden death of her father, an anti-Apartheid activist killed during the apartheid regime.

Poverty and destitution quickly followed and with them, a personal conviction to eke out a ‘vendetta’ against the state that had caused her father’s untimely demise. Fikelephi became a freedom fighter, joining a throng of other young people to seek redress for the injustices of apartheid.

Eventually, she fled the country. It’s a fascinating story but behind it lurks a darkness, a murkiness that the beautiful Fikelephi at our table seems very distant from. And in a way, she is distant from it all. She says of the experience, ‘I lived in a girl’s camp, living like a prisoner.’ She saw friends die from diseases arising from the camp conditions and she herself survived on very basic rations.

Her narration is full of sadness.

It is thus easy to read from her countenance the pain of knowing: that even after all these years, there are still many thousands of young girls and women shackled by domestic abuse, sexual exploitation and institutional discrimination.

But Fikelephi also acknowledges that these circumstances can be changed for the better. A fundamental core of her personal volition is her strong

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African Cuisine Magazine Page 19

The Celebrity TableTalk Menu

FIKELPHI’S BIG ASK:

Divine providence in many guises is resplendent in her account of how she fled South Africa and in all the opportunities, through people and circumstances, that helped her rebuild her life in England. The story of how she became Mrs Colin Jackson is so upliftingly sonorous that it could have come out of a fairy tale! Out of her own personal tragedy, desolation and abuse, Fikelephi helps us remember that ‘setbacks in life are not an end’ and that life is not a rehearsal - that it is happening right now and ‘you have the power to disallow every contrary situation in your life.

Fikelephi takes her own medicine.

She uses her immense resolve and determination to encourage others to make a difference to those girls and women wronged through domestic abuse. ‘Our UK work focuses on Confidential advice and support for victims of violence against women and girls (VAWG) while our overseas program promotes gender equality

Dodo; Iyan with Efo Riro; Jollof Rice; assortment of beverages

...Celebrity TableTalk with Fikelphi Jackson

Fikelphi and her husband, Colin talk to African Cuisine Magazine Christian faith. She used to refer to God as ‘the Big Man upstairs’. And, it seems, the ‘Big Man’ looked down upon her with mercy and grace.

Dishes from 805 Restaurant Menu, Old Kent Road, London Grilled Croaker Fish with

As we concluded this edition’s Celebrity TableTalk, we ask our Guest to make one Big Ask: lease join us as we celebrate our second anniversary since the launch of our Charity, All Odds Still Standing (AOS) Charity.

This fun filled evening also helps our efforts to fun-raise towards our beneficiaries. All proceeds will go to Against All Odds Still Standing (AOS) Charity Operations. Fill a table of 10, one goes free. See also right at the bottom of this page for donation item ideas on how you can contribute your help and support. To purchase your ticket see options below. Or else give us a call if you have any questions. Volunteers are also required to help out on the night.’

- Fikelephi Jackson

‘P and empower women, as well as improve maternal and neonatal health and to relieve need and hunger where we can make a difference.’

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The Rise of African Rice Why More and More Home-Grown Varieties are Hitting the Shelves

J

amie Oliver, the British chef courted controversy a couple of years back whern he offered up what he called ‘Jollof Rice’ to his cosmopolitan audience. Hell broke loose as his concotion was denounced by afficionados of ‘authentic’ Jollof Rice.

On the sidelines also was another argument between the Nigerians and Ghanaiains on who made the best Jollof Rice.

'If you raise the production of local rice but you are not doing anything to change the perception of the people, you will not progress much in promoting local rice consumption," said Ms. Lena Forson, an MPhil student at the University of Ghana. http://irri.org/ricetoday/adding-value-toafrica-s-rice

What is not disputed is that to make Jollof you need rice. And that the rice is usually neither Nigerian nor Ghanaian.

Most of the rice eaten in Africa is impoirted from largely from Asia and the USA. The rice export market is highly concentrated with the top five rice exporters accounting for 80% of global rice trade. Of the five top exporters, four (Thailand, India, Vietnam, and Pakistan) are from Asia. All major exporters are involved in white rice trading to all parts of the world.

On the contrary, the majority of parboiled rice originates from India and Thailand, with African and Middle Eastern countries as its main destinations.

It was only recently that China became the largest importer of rice in the world, displacing Nigeria, with 3.5 million tons of imports in 2013. Notably also, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, and Ghana are the biggest importers of jasmine rice on the continent.

Rice consumption in Africa is growing rapidly. where rice consumption is expected to grow much faster than in any other regions in the world. The International Rice Research Institute has projected that 112 million tons of additional rice will be needed globally by 2040 and nearly 40% of this

additional demand will be coming from Africa. ‘If African production growth cannot keep pace with its rising consumption, then the continent will emerge as a growing importer of rice from Asia’.

More and more Africans are eating more and more rice. The most important factor contributing to the shift in consumer preferences away from traditional staples and toward rice is rapid urbanization and associated changes in family occupational structure. As women enter the work force, the opportunity cost of their time increases and convenience foods such as

Similar findings have been obtained in several other West African nations, demonstrating that rice availability and rice prices have become a major determinant of the welfare of the poorest segments of West African consumers who are the least food-secure. Consequently, rice trade liberalization has also opened the door to the importation of low-quality rice that can be purchased by the poorest groups.

Recent economic pressure has forced African governments to respond to the import bill for rice. In Nigeria, where the crash in global oil prices has constricted foreign exchange supplies, the authorities have moved to diversify the economic base by promoting import-substitution. Rice is one the key options. Local rice-milling ghas taken off and the products are gaining traction. Anecdotal evidence even suggests many of the ‘Imported’ brands of rice are actually local produce.

Whatever the case, it is apparent that local rice is gaining a strong followership. Many tout the authenticity of its provenance in comparison to rice of doubtful foreign origin and that has spent many years in storage and transit.

The IRRI says that Despite rapid growth in rice production in sub-Saharan Africa (8.4% per year) from 2007 to 2012, the African continent continues to rely heavily on the world market to satisfy increasing consumption demand

for rice, with imports reaching 12 million tons of milled rice in 2012, costing more than US$5 billion. This is a huge drain on finances and threatens food and social stability. Thus, it is imperative to curb massive rice imports and encourage local production.

African Rice CASE STUDY Burundi Rice is grown once a year in Burundi. The same land is also used to grow other crops.

Average rice yields in the irrigated Imbo plain are 3.5 to 4 tons per hectare. In the rainfed areas of the Imbo plain, they get about 2 tons per hectare. And in the high elevation marshland areas they are 2 to 2.5 tons per hectare.

In 2010, about 75,000 tons of rice was estimated to be produced in Burundi while another 40,000 tons of rice was imported. Typically it is the high-quality aromatic rice that is imported from places like Thailand and Pakistan, which the wealthier people can afford. Rice is imported to access quality rice, less to supplement quantity. Some rice also comes in from neighboring Tanzania, but these quantities are not well-known. Between 1984 and 2011, rice production increased from 18,000 to 75,000 tons per year – a 316% increase in 27 years.

ADDING VALUE TO THE RICE HARVEST New rice-based products in Africa

rice, which can be prepared more quickly, rise in importance. Similarly, as men work at greater distances from their homes in the urban setting, a greater proportion of meals is consumed from the market, where the ease of rice preparation has given it a distinct advantage.

These trends have meant that rice is no longer a luxury food, but has become a major source of calories for the urban poor. Urban consumption surveys in Burkina Faso, for example, have found that the poorest third of urban households obtains 33% of its cereal-based calories from rice. For that same group, rice purchases represent 45% of its cash expenditures on cereals, a share that is substantially higher than for other income classes.

Page 22 African Cuisine Magazine

A Ghana Food Research Insitute project will enable screening of African rice (Oryza glaberrima) germplasm for constituents that make cereal grain slow-digesting to help consumers with Type II diabetes. It is also testing the use of low-value broken rice as the basis of a breakfast porridge fortified with proteinrich groundnut or soybean for undernourished babies and children.

The project is using flour from broken rice to prepare food products such as noodles, biscuits, and porridges. “Tasty and innovative uses of rice can catalyze rural enterprises and raise income, especially for women farmers and processors in our region,” said Ms. Lynda Hagan, scientist at the Food Research Institute (FRI) in Ghana.

USEFUL LINKS

The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) http://irri.org/about-us/ourorganization

African Rice Centre http://www.africarice.org

Ghana Food Research Institute http://www.foodresearchgh. org

African Cuisine Magazine Page 23

The Rise of African Rice...

HEY! EVERYONE’S GROWING THEIR OWN RICE!

R

ice in Africa is grown in several ecosystems and in a wide range of production systems. Here’s some.

The humid and subhumid “continuum” environment The Sahelian irrigated environment Irrigated rice in the Sahel forms the second most important riceproducing environment in West Africa, covering 440,576 ha (7.7% of total rice area) and producing 8.5% of regional production. Irrigation potential is much greater, estimated at more than 3 million ha along the Senegal, Niger, Black Volta, Chari, and Logone rivers.

The mangrove swamp rice environment Rice is also grown on approximately 147,000 ha of mangrove swamps, representing 3% of the total area and producing roughly 4% of the region’s output. Located on tidal estuaries close to the ocean, most mangrove swamps experience a saltfree growing period during the rainy season when freshwater floods wash the land and displace tidal flows.

The deepwater/floating rice environments Deepwater and floating rices

represent a large but increasingly marginalized production system for which area and production figures are generally poor and vary widely.

Estimates of sown area in the mid1970s varied from 187,000 to 630,000 ha. It is generally believed that, with the control of river flooding because of the construction of dams and with lower rainfall, areas under these ecosystems have probably declined during the last 20 years.

The estimated area under deepwater rice in West Africa at the end of the 1990s was 373,000 ha, or 8% of the rice-growing area, producing 5% of production at an average yield of 1.0 t/ha.

The major zones of production are located along the Niger valley around Mopti in Mali and Birnin Kebbi in Nigeria, and in northern Guinea.

Rainfed lowlands Irrigated Rice grown under irrigation or supplementary irrigation covers approximately 25% of the total rice area. Many old schemes are being rehabilitated and yields average 3–4 t/ha. Potential yield is 5–6 t/ha and two crops could be grown per year in many areas. Salinity is a major problem in many of these older

schemes as drainage systems have not been well maintained. Continuous cropping is also being used in many areas because of insufficient water availability. This is creating management and disease problems and new varieties are required. The cost of development for irrigated schemes in ESA is very high, with many costing more than $10,000/ha to develop.

Rainfed uplands

Constraints to production • • • • • • • •

Poor crop management Lack of disease-resistant varieties Unavailability of labor at critical times.

Poor land preparation Lack of good-quality seed High levels of plant diseases (especially bacterial leaf blight and blast) Insufficient water at crucial times, Poor weed control High postproduction losses during harvesting and processing

Page 24 African Cuisine Magazine

The Recipes of African Rice

RECIPES

Nigerian Ofada Rice and Ofada Stew/Sauce recipe http://www.dobbyssignature.com/2013/10/ofada-rice-sauce-ayamase.html •Prep time: 30mins •Cook time: Over an hour •Region: Nigeria •Misc: Serve Hot •Serves: 4 Ingredients::: •4 Cooking Spoons Palmoil • 12 Red scotch bonnet pepper(Ata rodo)/ Hanabero pepper • 5 (Red Bell pepper a.k.a Tatashey) • 10 Red Chili pepper •2 Heaped tbsp. Locust beans (Iru), Washed •500g Assorted meat : I used; Cow Intestines, Tripe a.k.a Sharki , Pomo •500g Beef (Red meat), Cut in chunks •Crayfish: 3 tbsp. Ground (+ A handful Whole- Optional) •1 Red Onion, diced •2 Seasoning cubes •500g Ofada Rice a.k.a Abakiliki rice •Salt to taste Directions: Preparation of the assorted meat and beef stock: Step 1: When using assorted beef, it’s best to take out time to wash properly. If you intend using Pomo, scrape out the dirty inner part (which is usually Sandy & dirty) including the outer skin thoroughly. If you intend using intestines, turn inside out and remove the saturated fats there (most people keep it in though). If using tripe a.k.a Towel or sharki in the Nigerian local market, wash thoroughly.

Step 2: Rinse the Beef and Assorted meat with clean water and dice into small bits, place in a medium sized pot. Add the seasoning cubes, Salt to taste, diced onion and 2-3 cups of water. Leave to cook till tender for about 30 mins. Set aside.

Preparation of the pepper puree: Step 1: Remove the seeds from the Red bell pepper. Wash the Red bell pepper thoroughly with clean water including the Red Scotch bonnet (Ata Rodo) and chili, place in a blender. Puree till smooth.

aside.

Ofada Rice preparation - (Click here for more about Ofada Rice a.k.a Abakiliki rice) Step 1: One major problem with ofada rice is the presence of stones. This is the major reason why people are put off by the local rice. Once the stones are taken out, you’d have no more issues with the tasty local rice. So before cooking Ofada rice, take out time to remove the stones.

Step 2:Wash the sorted rice severally with clean water and place in a small pot. Add some water just enough to cover the rice. Parboil for 10 mins and turn out into a clean bowl.

Step 3: Wash the parboiled rice with clean water and turn back into the pot. Add some salt and clean water- Boil till the rice softens.

Preparation of the Ofada Sauce Step 1: In an empty medium sized pot, Heat the palmoil for about 10-13minutes. This process is known as bleaching.

Bleaching is best done in a ventilated kitchen to avoid being choked by the smoke so ensure you open all the windows if you have to. Once the bleaching is done, the palmoil would look more like vegetable oil.

Step 2: Add the diced onion, pepper puree and Iru and stir fry for 5 minutes Step 3: Add the assorted meat stock including the Assorted meat and beef, Crayfish (Whole and ground). Taste to see if you need some more salt, Stir and cover the pot. Turn down the heat and leave to simmer for about 15 minutes.

Turn off the burner and serve with Ofada rice Source: http://www.dobbyssignature.com/2013/10/ofada-ricesauce-ayamase.html

Step 2: Pour the pepper puree in an empty pot and cook till all the liquid evaporates leaving the puree concentrated puree. Set

African Cuisine Magazine Page 25

OUT&ABOUT EVENTS AROUND AFRICA’S FOOD & DRINK IN THE DIASPORA

ARE YOU RATED BY US?

Food Lecture: "Let Them Eat Stuffed Peppers”: An Argument of Images on the role of Food in Understanding Neoliberal Austerity in Greece

T

his event held in London at the SOAS Food Studies Centre and Centres and Programmes Office and was co-sponsored by Gastronomica: The Journal of Critical Food Studies.

The lecturer was David Suttron, a professor of Anthropology with interest in Food at the University of Southern Illinois. He is a wellrespected scholar in this field.

The hall was full to capacity. and the audience was enthused with the very impressive context of food and imagery presented by Professor Sutton.

A bowl of Fried Plantains...from Us to You!

Guest Lecturer, Professor David Sutton (L) with host Professor Harry West

A Q&A session followed afterwards.

Professor Harry West closed the session with a summary of the discussions and then invited evetyone to a drinks reception to close the evening. There was a lot of animated discussions and the gathered assembly of ‘food-talkers’ seemed to have had a territic time.

The Centre hosts similar events regulary. If you’re interested in in joining up with people with an extraordinary passion in Food studies, please contact as follows: Contact email: centres@soas.ac.uk Contact Tel: +44 (0)20 7898 4893

W Join the club of Accredited African Cuisine organisations

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e bumped into Omer Eltigani at the lSOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies, London) Food Studies Centre ecture on 16 March 2016. Our host, Professor Harry West had made an introduction and soon we were talking about Sudanese cuisine. Sudan? Where’s that? Typically, mention of Sudan brings up stories of war, poverty and ethnic strife. But, as Omer said, such a report also conceals the truth that the Sudan is a reputed place of great history. It harbours a social and cultural milleu that is bursting with sweet culinary adventures. He has promised to take us into his kitchen and share these special aromas of excellence and enticement. We wait. Meantime, we invite to check into Omer’s Sudanese kitchen at http://www.sudanesekitchen.com. Tell us about it.

African Cuisine Magazine’s Michael Banjo with Sundnese Kitchen’s Omer Eltigani

African Cuisine Magazine Page 27

HEALTH & WELLNESS

WINE & BEVERAGE REPORT THE AFRICAN BAR IN THE DIASPORA

Sobolo

Breakfast in the Diaspora WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF THIS?

Page 28 African Cuisine Magazine

Sobolo is popular in Ghana.

It is made from the Roselle leaf, the roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa) is a species of Hibiscus native to the Old World tropics.

Sobolo has a unique taste that makes it pleasurable to all classes of people. In Ghana, Senegal & Nigeria, sobolo is served cold, while it’s served warm in Egypt. It is a sharp tasting herbal infusion taken as tea or juice. The flower is also used in making wine, juice, tea and spices. It can also be used in preparing raw salad. Serve chilled with snacks. play

Ingredients 3 cups of dried hibiscus leaf 3 cups of sugar 3 cups of boiling water (for the sugar syrup) 5 litres of boiling water (for the brewing of the leaves) You’d need a sieve, two big bowls. And some cups to drink it in!

Directions Pour the leaves into a big bowl Pour in a boiling water Let it sit for about an hour or more Let it sit for about an hour or more (cover it while it brews) Make a sugar syrup from sugar and boiling water then stir Pour together the syrup and sobolo juice.

Add 2 tablespoon of liquid vanilla Cut up some apples (or watermelons), orange rind slices into the sobolo to garnish it. You may also use cucumber.

In short, cut up any fruit or veggies inside that you feel comfortable with, especially citrus (for extra flavour).

You have absolutely nothing to lose but so much to gain for taking a chilled glass of sobolo. So, instead of buying those cartons of fruit juice, why don’t you make this easy drink? Its just like making tea! And it taste superb too.

Inspired by Nestle's "Healthy Living Africa" initiative.

Find out more here > http://www.nestle-cwa.com/en/ nhw/hla-english

African Cuisine Magazine Page 29

MINDFUL

LAST WORD

Africa just outside of your Hilton Hotel window

by Pius Adesanmi

Food speaks to us through all our senses.

What comes to your mind from these pictures? There’s a small prize for the first three answers.

Let us know by submitting your answer to africancuisinemagazine@gmail.com.

Page 30 African Cuisine Magazine

Editor’s note: Pius Adesanmi, the Director of Carleton University’s Institute of African Studies, talks about the responsibility before the black people to tell their own genuine stories loud enough to be heard and understood correctly by the rest of the world. Keynote lecture delivered at the Black History Month celebration of the African and Caribbean Students Union of St. Pal’s University, Ottawa. February 26, 2016

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his is my third Black History Month event this year. More precisely: the third in which I am having to speak. I’ve attended nearly a dozen others as a cheering member of the audience. One theme seems to stand out this year: an overwhelming awareness of the urgency of owning and telling our stories. Our stories as black people.

Our stories as African people. That was the mandate given to me, for instance, by the African and Caribbean Students Union at McGill University, when I addressed their own Black History Month event a few weeks ago in Montreal. The sentiment that black humanity has stories to tell which are either silenced or improperly narrated, or narrated by others more powerful than us and for ends that have little to do with us, has been around since the beginning of modern black imagination and intellectual thought. Many of the African and black radical ideologies of the 20th century were, in a very basic sense, efforts by black people and Africans to attain what Chinua Achebe calls a “balance of stories”. No African or black person needs to be introduced to the concrete consequences of our inability to own and tell our

own stories. But not all of us understand that our realities, what shapes and informs our struggles here in the Western world, in the Caribbean, and on the mother continent, Africa, is a function of stories and our ability to open up spaces of agency with stories. I will give you two examples to illustrate what I mean. Overcoming stereotypes I arrived in Canada in the summer of 1998 to start my doctoral program at the University of British Columbia. A handful of us, Africans, had been admitted into various PhD programs across campus that year and we met and bonded as might be expected. My own immediate circle of African friends comprised two other Nigerian men and a Cameroonian lady, who happened to be the only one among us who lived in campus residence.

The rest of us rented apartments in town. I must mention that the Cameroonian lady in question is an Anglophone. Anglophone Cameroonians had been part of Nigeria before colonial mapping and remapping eventually dumped them in Cameroon as one Anglophone minority fish in a massive Francophone sea. In essence, Anglophone Cameroonians still share considerable cultural commonalities with the peoples of Nigeria’s deep south, especially cuisine. Our Cameroonian colleague was a great cook. Her residential apartment

African Cuisine Magazine Page 31

LAST WORD

‘

LAST WORD

The conclusion that African food has odour and not aroma and the consequent “advice” to tone it down or do something about that odour is a function of a long chain of bureaucratic efforts.’

on campus became a regular stop for those of us who were lazy bachelors in the community of African doctoral students. She was constantly treating us to jollof rice, fufu, egusi, ogbono, efo riro, groundnut soup – spiced with all the ingredients of Africa. Our culinary treats in her apartment lasted only a few weeks before trouble started. Her graduate student residential apartment was a three-bedroom affair with common areas: three students shared a living room, a kitchen, and two bathrooms. She was the only African in that set-up. She had two Canadian roommates. One evening, I stopped by her apartment hoping to be treated to fufu and ogbono soup as usual but she offered to microwave a slice of pizza for me instead. You can imagine the disaster!

Then came her shocking story. She had been summoned by the university residence administration because they received complaints from her roommates about the odour and the smell of her constant African cooking. She was advised to somehow tone down the smell of her food or cook in such a way as not to inconvenience her roommates. “And what did you do?” I asked her. “What can I do?” she asked in return, demonstrating her African cred, for only Africans answer questions with questions. I assured her that there was plenty we could do. I assured her that there was plenty we needed to do. I wanted to know, for starters, if her roommates, those whose civilized nostrils had been offended by the foul odour and smell of African food, did any cooking of their own in the shared kitchen. Yes, they did. They cooked pasta. They baked quiche, tartes, and pizza.

They made the obligatory poutine. And there was cheese in the fridge. Armed with this information, we booked an appointment with the University Residence. When we got there, I had a few questions for them. I wanted them to explain to me how they arrived at the determination that Canadian cuisine

had an aroma while African cuisine had an odour. I wanted them to explain to me how they arrived at a ranking of the smell of food which had Western food smelling really nice and African food oozing stench.

I also wanted them to explain to me why they assumed that the African occupant of that apartment was not just as inadapted to the smell of the cooking of her Canadian roommates as they were to hers. To cut a long story short, my Cameroonian friend earned the right to cook African delicacies again in her apartment because we insisted on telling stories.

We recognized the fact that even in the business of gourmandizing, there are power relations and the difference between your food having an aroma or an odour could come down to your ability to tell your story efficiently. What I want you to take away from this anecdote is the fact that a certain effort is put into telling your story in a certain kind of way. The conclusion that African food has odour and not aroma and the consequent “advice” to tone it down or do something about that odour is a function of a long chain of bureaucratic efforts. The challenge, therefore, is not in always screaming that we are victims of misrepresentation, of stereotypes, of single stories. The point is: do you understand the fact that misrepresentations and stereotypes are products of effort and energy? Does your effort to tell your own story match the effort that is put into misrepresenting and stereotyping you? The challenge before black people Let us attempt a genealogy of the path to reductionist stereotypes and the considerable efforts involved. I have written elsewhere about a category of Western narrators of Africa I refer to as “the Hilton Hotel Africanist”. This is the journalist or writer or scholar or documentary maker or adventurist or charity worker or development worker or expert or expatriate who arrives in any of the capital cities of the African continent, checks into the Hilton in town, and gets to work. Getting to work means

Page 32 African Cuisine Magazine

getting organized so that, eventually, our Africanist will be able to start sending dispatches back to the New York Times or The Globe and Mail or CNN or Washington Post and all that jazz.

However, if you have been to the Hilton in any African capital, these hotels are always located in very posh and swanky areas of town.

When our Africanist wakes up in the morning and opens his Hilton hotel window, the view of Africa which greets him is malls and skyscrapers and fast-moving luxury cars on glossy roads, telling stories of hypermodernity. The “Africans” he has met thus far in this setting are way beyond his pay grade.

They can employ him very easily. Yet, when he sends his dispatches about Africa back to Europe or America, nothing of this Africa he sees from his Hilton hotel window is present in the report. All that is left is Ebola, AIDS, Boko Haram, Wars and conflict, hunger and malnutrition. All that is left are malnourished and naked children with eczemaridden skin, mucus-filled noses studying under a tree using wooden slates donated by UNICEF. How does this happen? It means that from his base in the Hilton hotel, this Africanist organizes expeditions into the Africa he has come to look for, hiring local agents to take him to locations of poverty and despair, completely ignoring the modernity to which he returns in the capital every evening. In essence, it takes a lot of effort to produce a documentary reducing you to Ebola; it takes a lot of organization to send a dispatch back to New York or London, reducing more than a billion people in fifty-four countries to hunger and malnutrition. It takes exceptional willpower and effort to close your mind and consciousness to all the postmodern gloss you see around you in the neighborhood of your Hilton hotel in Abuja or Nairobi or Johannesburg just because you are fixated on making poverty porn for consumption by Western audiences. It takes effort and considerable organization and diligence to tell lies about you or distort your story. Once your story is distorted, your world is equally distorted. Does Africa understand that it also takes effort and organization and dedication to tell your own truths?

I think somebody in Africa understands this better than we do: China. Many of you here are perhaps already aware of the fact that there is a story called

China in Africa. This has been the dominant story out of Africa in nearly a decade. Everybody is talking about China in Africa. The West has also been doing a lot of talking about China in Africa. And the West has been saying that the sky is falling. All the usual spokespersons of the West have been demonizing China. As secretary of state, Hillary Clinton once toured Africa to warn us about the dangers of China. Of course we know that the West is not sensitizing us to the dangers of dalliance with China because she loves Africa so much. It is the fear of competition and displeasure at being overtaken by China in the scramble for the resources of Africa that is determining the way in which the West is shaping the story of China in Africa. What did China do?

Well, somebody in Beijing apparently decided that they were not going to let the West tell their story in Africa. They decided that they would not let the idea of China in Africa be shaped exclusively by CNN, the BBC, France 24, The New York Times and Washington Post. They invested heavily in CCTV Africa, China’s answer to the West’s global cable television machine. CCTV Africa is heavily subsidized by China. It is as popular as Al Jazeera in the continent. Yet, the sole ideological function of that television is to enable China tell her own story in Africa. Moral of this story: the future belongs to those who understand the fact that efforts to reduce you to a story must be matched or overwhelmed by your own efforts to shine as a diversity of stories.

That is the challenge before black people. That is the challenge before Africa. I thank you for your time!

Pius Adesanmi is the director of Carleton University’s Institute of African Studies, Ottawa, Canada. In 2010, he was awarded the inaugural Penguin Prize for African Writing. A widely-cited commentator on Nigerian and African affairs, he has lectured in African, European, and North American universities, and also regularly addresses non-academic audiences across Africa.

Follow him on Twitter @pius_adesanmi.

Pius Adesanmi is the Guest Speaker at the 5th Innovention Series in Lagos on 22 March 2016 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/5th-innoventionseries-2016-tickets-21446524131

African Cuisine Magazine Page 33

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