Food Out of Africa

Many regional African dishes show influences from the different countries that have colonized Africa, countries that surround it, and countries that have traded with Africa over the centuries. An African cooking class can be a multi-cultural adventure.

What exactly is African food? The answers are probably as numerous as the continent is vast.

Most African food today has common dietary ingredients such as cornmeal, milk curds and whey, yams and sweet potatoes, cassava, steamed or boiled green vegetables, grains, vegetarian and meat-based stews, and plantains and bananas. It also includes hints of many other cultures.

The English, Dutch, Portuguese, Indian, and French cultures, as well as various Mediterranean and Arabian influences, have imparted regional accents to African food. Even though there are some similarities in ingredients, Nigerian and West African food is distinctly different from Ethiopian food. The dishes from Kenya and Uganda in East Africa differ significantly from those in South Africa.

A Culinary Education in Geography

In an African cooking class, you can learn to prepare simple East African dishes with exotic spices such as saffron, cloves, and cinnamon, imported by early Arab settlers. East African food has significantly less European influence because it remained 'undiscovered' by European trade ships later than other areas of the continent.

Your culinary education would also include the preparation of dishes with a distinct Portuguese influence. The early Portuguese colonials imported citrus fruits from Asia and chilies and peppers from South America, ingredients that have strongly influenced the cuisine in Angola and Mozambique. A comprehensive African culinary education also includes learning how to prepare the spicy fish dishes prevalent in coastal West Africa.

Regional dishes from Ethiopia, like the national dish of Doro Wat (stewed chicken), include some type of meat while most dishes from East Africa contain very little, even though meat is abundant there.

South African cuisine is a blend of cultural richness that includes native Bantu, British, Dutch, Malaysian, and French influences. Due largely to foreign immigration, South Africa cuisine contains a cosmopolitan cuisine that runs the gamut from Indian curries to British mixed grills.

Now is the time to enroll in a culinary arts school and experience the culinary career adventure that brings the richness of African food to you.

Sources

Sally's Place

About the Author

Judi Sandall is a technical writer and a regular Chef School Review columnist. Judi has also worked as a training consultant on contracts with Duke University and Bell Atlantic. She is a graduate of the State University of New York at Binghamton, with a BA in English Literature.

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