Suya comes to Berkeley

Last week before leaving Berkeley, California, we stopped in at a modest but welcome new addition to the culinary scene, called "Suya." (Located at 2130 Oxford St, between Allston Way and the West Entrance to U.C. Berkeley. They're open every day but Sunday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.) The Nigerian owner explained that when he came to the U.S. he always longed for a place to get the popular street/party/kebab-style food in Nigeria called "suya." (pronounced "sooya"). He and his wife decided to make it happen. We should all be grateful to them.

The restaurant is tiny (read "intimate"), and focuses its attention on grilling beef, tilapia, or chicken spiced to order with either the distinctive, vibrant rub called  "yagi"  (aka "suya powder") or Caribbean jerk seasoning--they even set out samples for passers by to taste, and though I sampled the jerked version, my heart belongs to suya (Ghana's chichinga).  While there are actually 3 or 4 types of suya (tsire, for which I've posted a recipe, kilishi,  balangu and dambu) most people use "suya" to refer to the most popular type, "tsire suya." The spices are exciting and distinctive (especially the powdered peanuts), the cooking lowfat and healthy, and there's no substitute for that freshly grilled taste of vegetables (corn, plantains, zucchini, peppers, etc.). Our grilled ripe plantains disappeared before I could even photograph them! The eating area is quite compact, the service friendly, and there is the advantage that you can watch the chefs grill your meal.

I'm generally not a big fan of tilapia, and I've never had fish suya before, but I found the spices gave it a delightful flavor. If you're in the Bay Area, do stop by and check Suya out.

In my next posting I'll blog about the refreshing Nigerian nonalcoholic drink I had there--a West African challenge to sangria: the Chapman! Who would have thought of adding cucumbers to a cocktail? Hint: note the bright red color of the drink in one of the photos below.

Ghana's Black Gold

Before Ghana became Ghana, the British colonial state called it the "Gold Coast." However, along with its celebrated gold reserves, Ghana has long been known as one of the world's leading producers of "black gold," high-quality cocoa.

This week while visiting in Berkeley, California, I've already twice seen Ghana's influence on the international trade in chocolate. My daughter pointed out the Divine chocolate line of Fair Trade chocolate in a local grocery store. 

Not only is the wrapping gorgeous and covered with Ghana's striking and meaningful traditional adinkra symbols,  each square is also individually stamped. I especially appreciate how the "V" in the name "Divine," is reminiscent of a variation of the "sankofa" (return and fetch) symbol. The story of the Divine company is heartwarming, and I'm pleased to say that the chocolate is delicious, too. 

A day later, I stopped at (the original) Pete's Coffee shop, and noticed a bar of "fine, artisanal chocolate" at the checkout stand. The chocolate bar was wrapped beautifully and stamped with another adinkra symbol, the "ram's horns," symbolizing strength and humility (also found on the Divine chocolate wrapper shown to the right of the Peet's wrapper).

When I mentioned I wanted to blog about the Divine chocolate initiative, daughter Abena kindly stopped by the local Fair Trade store to show me the wide range of the Divine bars.

Ghana's chocolate is found numerous other places worldwide. I've (written about and) savored (Korean) Lotte chocolate bars from Japan, as well as Jameison's. As a confirmed chocolate lover, I wanted to continue to share about this Ghanaian resource.

African Cooking on the Move

It's exciting to see the surge of interest and activity regarding African cuisine. In ongoing support of my assertion that African cuisine is gearing up to be the next big thing in the culinary world, I submit:

On April 27, 2012, The Wall Street Journal Online featured an essay "Next Stop for Food Fanatics--Africa" by food futurist Josh Schonwald, who assures us "It will take a while, but African cuisine will arrive. Bring on the fufu.")

2 days later,  Tejal Rao wrote in The Village Voice blog to correct a few stereotypes in Schonwald's article ("The Wall Street Journal Gets Africa Wrong"), and mention  several African food blogs.

From Cameroon: BBC News Africa, 30 April 2012--"Food for thought--When service is on top of the menu."

A number of culinary pioneers have also been quietly working towards promoting African cuisines, such as Kunmi Oluleye, the powerhouse behind Sheba foods--if you haven't gone to Sheba's multifaceted site, do so today. It's in the process of a complete overhaul, and I predict is destined to become a giant in the African culinary movement in North America.

There are so many things happening RE African cuisine these days, it's hard to keep up.

In February, Xoliswa Ndoyiya, Nelson Mandela's long-time personal chef in South Africa launched a cookbook featuring Mandela's favorite recipes. (I'd love to get a copy if anyone can help advise me on how to do that).

Not least of all, let me close out today's posting with a huge "thank you" to colleague Joan Baxter, a Canadian journalist with over 2 decades of experience living in and writing about Africa.

She noticed a Sierra Leonean cookbook in Freetown recently--see the cover above for What's Cooking Today (Sierra Leonean Favourites): Recipes Used Around Sierra Leone, and kindly sent it to add to our Africa Cookbook Collection. Originally published in March 1996 ("Dedicated to my dear husband, Christopher S. Davies on our 50th Wedding Anniversary. . ."), author Muriel Davies was a pioneer in the Sierra Leone Home Economics Association (founded by Dr. Pamela Greene [nee Thompson-Clewry].  Pamela  Thompson-Clewry, at the Home Economics Department at Njala University College/University of Sierra Leone wrote the preface to the 1996 edition. The 107-page (modestly called a "booklet" by the author) black-and-white document was reprinted in May, 2001, and while the paperback suffers from a poor binding, it contains a wealth of information. Part I covers rice dishes; Part II plasas, stews, and vegetable dishes; and, Part III (Knicks Knacks) Snacks. Thank you again, Joan. And we all thank Mrs. Davies for helping to preserve Sierra Leonean classic recipes.

Trailer for AFR297B

 In March I posted the description of the  3-credit African Studies class on Sub-Saharan African food culture I'm teaching this fall (2012) at the University Park campus of the Pennsylvania State University. Here's a brief trailer with more information. If you're part of the Penn State community, please help spread the word.

Also, if you know of any similar courses or resources you recommend, I'd truly love to know about them 

IACP hightlights: Chef Pierre Thiam and fonio

A high point for me at this year's  

IACP conference in NYC was attending a session at The International Culinary Center  led by Senegalese Pierre Thiam, the fabulous chef/owner of Le Grand-Dakar, and author of Yolele! Recipes from the Heart of Senegal.  

Pierre had obvious mastery of his subject, a refreshingly calm and humble demeanor, and kept us all entranced with stories of Senegalese culture and cuisine, all the while preparing and offering samples of several delicious recipes using the  amazing tiny millet grain fonio, one of the so-called "lost crops of Africa."

 I have fond memories of time spent inTamale in northern Ghana eating a light, delicious breakfast porridge made from fonio, and was happy a few years ago to learn that Sanoussi Diakité, a Senegalese mechanical engineer, had perfected a mechanical husking machine for  processing of the tiny grain.

There was much enthusiasm at the IACP conference for discovering new grains, and the cookbook that won the Julia Child award was Maria Speck's Ancient Grains for Modern Meals, published by  Ten Speed Press. However, her Mediterranean whole grain focus is on ingredients like barley, farro, kamut, polenta and wheat berries.

One Swiss conference attender enthused to me later that Thiam's session was the best one she had attended so far (this was 4 days into a 5-day conference!) I, too, found it to be quite useful and enjoyable, even though I had to sneak out before the end to set up for the bloggers fair.

I'll post a fonio recipe of my own soon. More to come, too, about the food blogger fair and with lunch with Jessica Harris at Marcus Samuelsson's Red Rooster.