LA, PA, and Ghana Videos from the Launch

The International Association of Culinary Professionals Conference (IACP) in Los Angeles California April 1-3, 2016 was a celebration of good food from around the world, and focused on changing communications in the culinary world. I was happy to represent Ghana (Note the Made-in Ghana-apron). For the first time since I've been attending, I met a sub-Saharan African (Nigerian) colleague! 

          

My next signing event will be at the University Club on the Penn State Campus from 8 a.m. to noon, Saturday April 23, 2016 at a half day conference sponsored by State College's own Smart, Creative + Interconnected women's group.
See the website for more information. I'd love to see you there.

Finally, I'm happy to announce that some of the speeches from January's Ghana launch of The Ghana Cookbook  are now available online. Here's the first one from BETUMI's playlist.

All of the videos Barbara Baeta had uploaded from that day (including among others Barbara's remarks about the fascinating history of Flair Catering, my irrepressible husband, Prof. K. Osseo-Asare making outrageous remarks, journalist and former minister of state, Elizabeth Ohene, and  Rev. Dr. Joyce Aryee [also a former minister of state]), are available at http://bit.ly/1Wnwm5x (Incidentally, I still can't believe I said some Akans might claim they eat soup and fufu "for breakfast," when I meant "every day." Oops.)

Sold out all the books at the Accra launch

I'm in the airport at Brussels waiting for the flight via Chicago back home to Pennsylvania. I have a few "free minutes" at the airport to let everyone know that, as expected, we had a joyous time on Thursday. I was awed by all the impressive number and rank of the hundreds who showed up. We ran out of our over 180 books and many folks pleaded with us to bring more to Ghana. The flowers, music, food, and presentation were up to Flair's standard of doing everything with "flair."

No time to go into details right now, but I thought folks might like to see a few photos from the launch. I'll be more specific when I have more time to reflect on the meaning and to share some of the comments we received. The media were also generous in their coverage with interviews before and also at the launch itself.

Where to buy The Ghana Cookbook in Accra?

Happy 2016! Several folks have asked where they can buy the book in Ghana. It is now available in Accra at  Wild Gecko, and also at  Vidya Bookstore in Osu. If you would like information about attending the upcoming book launch with Barbara Baëta and Fran Osseo-Asare in late January, please contact fran@betumi.com for more information.

We were pleased that Gourmand International announced in December that The Ghana Cookbook was the Gourmand World Cookbook award winner for Ghana, and is now entered in the Gourmand Best in the World competition for "Best African cuisine published outside of Africa," with winners to be announced in February. 

This is the year of The Ghana Cookbook! It has also already gone into its second printing. Try something new this year, or learn how to make a  favorite Ghanaian dish. There are over 140 to choose from.

An especially hearty "yɛdase" (we thank you) to all of you for your support, such as Poem van Landewijk and Elizabeth Dubes Vardon at Wild Gecko Handicrafts, pictured above, on the left and right, respectively.

Barbara Baeta busy in Accra

News Flash!  I'm pleased and excited to announce that the first official copies of The Ghana Cookbook have landed on Ghana's soil! Here Barbara Baëta shows one off. She is busily making arrangements for its African launch in Ghana at Flair in January.

Update on The Ghana Cookbook Saga

Since our book was released in November, it's been a busy few weeks. As I mentioned then in an article on the TED Fellows channel of medium.com my love affair with Ghana and its food has deep roots. 

Sunday, Dec. 6,   an article by Anne Quinn Corr appeared in our local paper, The Centre Daily Times, about The Ghana Cookbook, filling in some background and why I'm so passionate about celebrating Ghana's cuisine and culture. I was thrilled to see the article noticed by the U.S. Embassy in Ghana, and also Mission Economique des Pays-Bas en Côte d'Ivoire. Going global, here! 

       
          
That was followed in the afternoon by an event at our local independent bookstore, Webster's Bookstore and Cafe.

It was fun to have volunteers from the packed house try their hand at peeling a green plantain and slicing strips, or cracking open a coconut, and we even had owner Elaine demonstrate (as instructed) how to make atwemo/atsomo (aka "twisted cakes"), while folks were sipping ginger beer or hibiscus iced tea (bissap/zobo/sobolo) or lemongrass tea, or snacking on akara (black-eyed pea fritters) with a peanut pumpkin dipping sauce/stew, or trying out a red bean stew with smoked fish, and coconut rice, or Ghana's yummy cassava one-pot dish called "gari foto"(aka "gari jollof"). I was somewhat surprised how many people showed up because of the gluten-free aspect of Ghana's cuisine.

Whew! It was a ton of work, but the audience was super enthusiastic. I would have been lost without the help my Happy Valley Communications team plating and handing out food and drinks, helping people discover their "day names," and still finding time to tweet during the event (@ghanacookbook). Once again, they were great! Also,  the staff at Webster's was wonderful in providing help with setting up and taking down.
 
In January I head to Accra, where Barbara Baëta and I will properly launch the book in Ghana at Flair Catering. We're having trouble keeping the guest list trimmed to a manageable size (Which Barbara says is 500). 

So much fun after so much work!

I also heard today from the publisher at Hippocrene Books that they may soon have to reprint the book as the first printing appears to be selling out! Great news.
Sincere thanks to each of you who has been helping to spread the news via word-of-mouth, twitter, and other social media. I look forward to hearing how you find the recipes.

(P.S. Please don't put off getting your holiday copies.)

Happy Ghana Independence Day

Today is March 6, Ghana's 58th year Independence Day. Air force planes have been flying overhead in  formation all week getting ready for the parades and festive activities. We are hoping the rain stays away this afternoon.

We have been here 4 weeks tomorrow.

Recent highlights include:

• lunching and catching up with Barbara Baeta at her house (and learning that in 2011 she was honored with the Order of the Volta, one of Ghana's highest honors for service to the nation)  
• a guest lecture in husband's professional development class for materials science students (mostly tips on better writing) to final year undergraduate students at the University of Ghana, Legon
• initial inroads on turning the house near Community 18 (Baatsona) into a home (e.g., moving some of the seedlings there for the kitchen garden, buying water tanks, commissioning  local terracotta tiles for the kitchen floor . . .)
• beginning  revisions to the cookbook (tick, tock--the end of March is getting closer)

The next big event is this weekend's activities celebrating my husband's high school alma mater, Achimota School, reunion and "Founders Day." It kicks off tonight (Friday) with a bonfire, followed by cultural activities tomorrow morning (and husband's speech on behalf of the class of 1965), with a church service Sunday. 

 

Africa Cookbook Projects, Original and New

In my previous post I promised to share about what's happening with BETUMI's "mountain moving" projects. 


BETUMI's Original Africa Cookbook project:
In 2007 at the TED Global conference held in Arusha,
Tanzania, BETUMI launched the

Africa Cookbook Project --we now have collected well over 120 books written by Africans and published (mostly) in Africa. They range from mimeographed (yes, before the 1960s, before  photocopying or scanning, there was mimeographing) informal collections of recipes to sophisticated full-color print books. They are in English, French, Portuguese, Amharic, Malagasy. . . We have also collected dozens more cookbooks published outside of Africa and/or written by non-Africans, along with dozens of  African-food-related reference books.

The earliest books in the collection were originally published in 1933 (The Gold Coast Cookery Book,  by the Government Printing Office in Accra, reprinted in 2007 as The Ghana Cookery Book by Jeppestown Press in the U.K. AND the 1934 The Kudeti Book of Yoruba Cookery by J. A Mars & E. M. Tooleyo--we have the 3rd (Revised) Edition (1979) and the reprinted and repackaged 2002 edition, all from Lagos.

The most recently published additions are: from South Africa,  Ukutya Kwasekhaya: Tastes from Nelson Mandela's Kitchen by Xoliswa Ndoyiya with Anna Trapido, published in 2011;  from Ghana, Florence Sai's Aunty Mama's Cook Book launched in Ghana in December 2011, and from (Côte d'Ivoire (via France), Marguerite Abouet's  Délices d'Afrique, published in 2012 by Editions Alternatives.

A huge thank you to everyone who has contributed so far to this project. One immediate mountain that needs moving is getting all of the books into the fledgling data base. We need help to do this. Maybe the next step after that is getting some of the earlier works digitized and available to everyone, while ensuring that there is fair compensation to authors and publishers.

The Newest Africa Cookbook project:

As many of you already know, for over a decade (when the photo on the left was taken), Barbara Baeta and Fran Osseo-Asare have been collaborating on compiling an ambitious Ghanaian cookbook designed as a basic cooking course. It will feature regional variations and step-by-step instructions for a wide range of Ghanaian recipes (roughly 150), along with Ghanaian artwork, scenic shots, and anecdotes from both of our lives. 

We're thrilled to report that in August 2013 we signed a contract with Hippocrene Books, respected for over 40 years as a publisher of ethnic cookbooks. The manuscript will be completed by the end of August 2014, and the book is expected out 9 months later, around May 2015. Thank you to all of you who have been supportive of this unfolding dream. We trust that, like all truly great things, it will prove worth the wait.

We're very excited! 

P.S. Those of you who have offered to help (or would like to)  with the final recipe testing, stay tuned. We welcome your involvement, and will soon give more details on how you can be a part of this project.






 

Flair turns 45!

I've been in Ghana for almost 2 weeks. The highlight so far was celebrating Flair Catering's 45th Anniversary and the graduation of its 2013 class. Barbara Baeta (and her catering company and school) is legendary in her commitment to setting standards in the hospitality industry in Ghana, as well as championing Ghana's classic cuisines while preparing a wide array of international dishes with equal ease. Barbara truly brings "flair" to everything she touches. I feel honored to know her and to have been able to join them for this special time. 

While waiting  in a bank this morning I happened to see an editorial in one of the local papers. The writer was lamenting the failure of customer service in the hospitality industry in Ghana after over 50 years of independence. Then he stated that Barbara Baeta and Flair have restored his faith in the hope that dedicated, honest, creative, hardworking individuals like her and her legacy of trained professionals, offer hope for Ghana, and for Africa as a whole. It was a moving tribute.

The graduation speaker this year was Mrs. Lordina Mahama, the wife of Ghana's current President. It turns out she was a graduate of Flair, and in the 1990s earned the coveted "Barbara Baeta Award" for her outstanding accomplishments while


a student. The graduates were inspired and eager to continue Flair's traditions. Mrs. Mahama also donated a new 6-burner cookstove to the school, and promised 2,000 bags of cement for the long-dreamed of expansion of the school in a new location.


It struck me how the students truly understood the vocation before them, as they (and former students as well) transitioned effortlessly from honored graduates to earnest caterers: after the graduation on Friday, serving the hundreds of guests refreshments they had prepared , as well as at a luncheon held on Sunday after a service of Thanksgiving at Ridge Church. I was also touched by the devotion, respect,  and love they obviously have for their beloved "Auntie Shika."
 

Recipe #94: Contemporary Akontoshi ("stuffed crab")

The word for "crab" in Twi is kɔtɔ or ɔkɔtɔ or okoto. Kotokyim is the Akan name for "crab stew" and akontoshi refers to a classic Ghanaian stuffed crab dish topped with bread crumbs. Barbara Baeta of Flair Catering has adjusted the traditional recipe to create an elegant, but easy, dish that can be made from crab (or lobster) meat, but also using less expensive canned tuna fish. Following her lead, I have used Irish baking dish seashells to lend a nice ambiance to the dish. It can also be served in a  crab shell or a ramekin.

If you have access to fresh crabs, good for you. I do not, and since I'm not serving this as a first course at a fancy luncheon or dinner party, and the crab would cost me at least $20 to buy, I prepared mine today using a can of chunk tuna in water.

Recipe #94: Contemporary Akontoshi ("stuffed crab")

Ingredients:

• 1 slice of wholewheat (brown) bread, to make about 1/2 cup of bread crumbs
• about 1 cup of Ghanaian gravy (see below for directions)
• about 6 ounces of fresh crab (or lobster meat), or 1 6 oz can of solid tuna fish (preferably in water), drained and flaked with a fork or your fingers

Special equipment:

• 4 or 5 (oven proof) shells or ramekins to hold the stew

Directions:

1. Put a slice of whole-wheat bread into a blender and pulse the blender to make it into crumbs. If it is too fresh and soft, let it sit out for a while to dry, or pop it into a toaster for a minute. You should have about 1/2 cup of crumbs.
2. Put a clean, heavy pan on the stove and toast the breadcrumbs in it over medium heat until they are browned and crisp, stirring or shaking the pan frequently. Remove the pan from heat and pour the crumbs into a bowl so they do not continue to cook and burn, and set them aside.

If you do not already have some Ghana-style gravy on hand, make some using:

• 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil (such as canola, or peanut)
• l/2  medium onion, finely chopped (or grated) to get about 1/2 cup 
• a tomato, seeded and grated (or ground), peeling discarded if grated (for directions on grating, see the eggplant stew recipe), to get about 1/2 cup with juice (do not rinse the peelings with any water)
• a heaping teaspoon of tomato paste
• 1 large clove of garlic (or 2 small), pressed (or ground)
• 1 teaspoon of peeled and grated or ground fresh ginger
• fresh ground (or minced, but I prefer grinding in a blender) hot pepper to taste (or substitute one or two minced, grated or ground tablespoons of a sweet bell pepper, and/or a half teaspoon or more of dried ground hot chili pepper)
• a little salt to taste
• a teaspoon or so of your choice of additional seasoning, dried ground shrimp, white pepper, no-salt seasoning, etc.(optional; I used 1/4 teaspoon dried ground shrimp.

To make the gravy: Prepare the onion, tomato, ginger, pepper, and garlic. Put a frying pan on the stove to heat on medium heat, then add the oil and chopped or grated onion. Saute for a few minutes, then add the garlic, ginger, and fresh red (or bell) pepper. Stir well and cook for another minute or two, and add the tomatoes, tomato paste and other seasonings you are using. Cook for a few minutes until well blended. Add the flaked tuna fish (or crab) to the gravy and stir well. Let it cook for several minutes for the flavors to blend and thicken as  some of the liquid cooks out. (If using fresh crab meat, make sure it is cooked through). Taste and adjust seasonings.

To fill the shells (crab or seashells) or ramekins: You should have a little over a cup of stew, enough for 4 shells filled with 1/4 cup of stew each, or 5 shells filled with 1/3 cup each (that's what I did). Sprinkle a couple of teaspoons of the bread crumbs over the stew on each shell (or a little more if you like).

Heat through in a moderate oven (350 degrees For 180 degrees C) for about 10 minutes, or just until heated through, making sure the crumbs do not burn (I actually used a slightly lower temperature in my toaster broiler oven).

Voila! A delicious, impressive first course to a meal. Even better, you can prepare the stew and the bread crumbs ahead of time, and just stuff and heat them at the last minute. They should be served warm.
Variations: Ghanaians would likely use more oil in the gravy than I suggest. Sometimes butter replaces the oil. Sometimes cheese is added.

Homage to Oto: Recipe #78

Before presenting Recipe #78, here is some background. Rather than rewrite what I've said elsewhere about the ceremonial dish yam oto (the actual Akan orthography would be ɔtɔ), allow me to quote myself (the references can be found at the linked article above):

 * * * *
    Oto, a sacred dish made from hard-boiled eggs, mashed yam, and palm oil, is an Akan as well as a Ga tradition. Oto is commonly served at the naming ceremony for a new baby (an "outdooring") or the purification of the mother after birth; at puberty ceremonies for girls; at festivals associated with twins, whom the Akan and Ga people consider sacred; at special occasions after the birth of the third, seventh or tenth child of the same sex (sacred numbers in the Akan and Ga cultures); at harvest celebrations; after the first and third weeks of deaths in a family, when not only family members eat oto, but the house is sprinkled with oto to satisfy the dead; and on special days in the Akan calendar known as "Bad Days" or Dabone. [32] Dabone is based on the belief that on particular days the spirits inhabiting forest or farmland will be offended if anyone invades their territory, so people stay home and away from their farms to avoid meeting or offending the spirits. Thus, oto is served to both the living and the dead. In addition, on other special occasions in normal adult life, e.g., recovery from illness, escape from accidents, birthdays, oto is the customary dish prepared to thank the nsamanfo (spirits) by sharing a meal, oto, with them. The nsamanfo are believed to dislike food which is highly seasoned. Hence oto is given without salt or pepper. [33]

  For ceremonial uses, oto is prepared without onions (or tomatoes) because "these products are foreign and are not in keeping with the fetish rites." [34] 
One cannot speak about oto without talking about eggs and the role of eggs in Ghanaian society:         

Oto  is always accompanied by hard-boiled eggs. Eggs, a key symbol in Ghanaian culture, are often used for sacrifices, at purification rites, as pacification fees, gifts, for thanksgiving after illness, and at numerous other occasions. [35]

  The very oval form of the egg is the symbol of female beauty and, at the same time, bears an element of 'cleansing power.' The egg is laid by the hen with what the Ghanaian considers to be amazing ease; it is therefore made to symbolize easy labour and fecundity. [36]
 
When eggs are carved on the staff of a "linguist" (the king's spokesperson), they proclaim that the king "wants peace with everyone (for there is no bone or any hard substance in an egg) and that he is a careful, patient, and prudent person (for an egg is so fragile that without these qualities it would be broken)." [37] 
 

During a visit to Ghana once, my son was given a wooden carving of a hand holding an egg; his friend used this proverb to explain the carving: "Power is like an egg: if you hold it too tightly it breaks, and if you hold it too loosely, it drops and breaks." 

 * * * * * * * * *

I am especially excited to present this recipe. About 3 decades ago, I was thrilled to discover my first postcard of food in Ghana--a postcard celebrating oto with a photo of this traditional Ghanaian dish (see the top of the blog posting). The back simply said in English (and also in French): "African Gourmet" (Gourmet Africain), and gave very simple directions on preparing it. Many years later I received a card from Barbara Baeta, and the photo was part of her stationery. Here is my tribute to that card by duplicating, as best I can in my own home this afternoon (in a very quick photo shoot), the original photo, and here is Flair Catering's version of yam oto.
When we made it in Ghana, this was said to be enough for 2 people, but it would likely stretch further with American portion sizes.


Assemble ingredients:


1 piece of African yam (about a pound)
1 onion, finely chopped (about 3/4 cup)
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
1/2 cup dzomi oil or palm oil 
2 eggs (or 1 per person to serve)


Directions:

1. Hard boil the eggs, peel, and set aside.
2. Wash, peel and slice the yam, cutting off any bad spots. Cut the yam in half lengthwise, then slice it into slices about 1/2 inch thick. Put the slices in a medium-size pot and cover the yam with water. Add a teaspoon of salt, cover the pot, bring it to a boil, then lower the heat and cook for about 15 minutes, depending on how thick the yam slices are.
3. While the yam is cooking, chop the onion. Heat the palm oil in a pan (add a slice of onion, or ginger or bay leaf first and fry briefly to season the oil, then remove it) and add the chopped onion to the oil and fry it briefly. Use dzomi, or the best quality palm oil you can find. Remove from heat.
4. Drain the yam and put it into an asanka or other bowl and mash with a wooden masher or potato masher then mix it with a wooden spoon. Do not mash the yam as thoroughly as you would potatoes. One does not want a paste or a smooth "whipped" mass, but a denser, more textured one.
5. Continue to mash the yam as you add the palm oil and onion mixture into the bowl (switching to a fork may make it easier to blend without smashing it).
6. Garnish with an egg for each person.

The day we made this, Barbara mentioned she had recently had oto at a celebration in Accra for the 70th birthday of a Fante friend. To thank God they first went to a church service in the morning, then began their breakfast at 8:30 a.m. with oto, topped with a hard boiled egg for each person. The oto was followed by an extensive banquet of Ghanaian and Western dishes, that continued on until lunch.

 P.S. There is a lovely posting about brides and oto at The Skinny Gourmet.
P.P.S. My special thank you to Sam and Ernest Osseo-Asare for traveling to Washington DC to bring me some fresh Ghana yam. I wish you were here today to enjoy the fruits of your labors.