My Guide to Food – Exploring and Mapping intersections between Nigerian Cuisine and Foods of the World
Yes, flavour pairings are a personal thing…what people like to eat together, but also what ingredients go with what. They are also based on scientific studies – flavour families with which we’re familiar, like floral of Zobo and Meyer lemons; citrus of oranges and limes and lemons; and on and on and on. The truth is […]
Food pairing – combining ingredients with others that are really similar (positive) or really different (negative). Cuisines are defined by ingredients, shaped by influences – what grows around you, your climate, who has been in your space. Legacies of colonisation, of slave trade make it to the plate today – from Lagos to Bahia and […]
The ‘New Nigerian Kitchen’ is a term I coined in 2013 and articulated in my 2014 TEDx Talk to describe my approach and practice to the many faces and facets of Nigerian cuisine and my strong belief that Food is more than eating – practically all aspects of life are reflected on the plate. I think of […]
It’s the season of my favourite ‘fruit to explore’ – Agbalumo aka the African star apple. The star apple is found in many Caribbean and South East Asian countries, including Jamaica. Around the world in star apples Around the world in star apple names Why am I so intrigued about this fruit one might wonder? […]
Last season (December 2014 – April 2015), I ‘discovered’ other aspects and characteristics of Agbalumo that hitherto were unknown. I’m glad it’s back because I have a few more recipes to try with our African Star Apple. My intention is to make some specialty Agbalumo treats for sale, especially the drinks and chutney. In the […]
It wasn’t till I was an adult that I realised we didn’t have a class of ‘Nigerian desserts’. Growing up, desserts in their elaborate western form weren’t our thing. We kept it simple and fresh. Mostly. We had fresh fruit salads and cakes, Ice cream and jelly and that was mostly it. It was enough […]
In our familiarity with and adoration of it, we translate its importance to others. We recoil in shock when we find that the significance we attach to it this side of the Atlantic is not the same in other parts of the world, like the area in and around the Indian Ocean. And no this […]
The Concept This concept is all about reinventing peppersoup – taking it from warm and comforting to refined and clean. It’s about combining the popular sides of yam in this spicy broth with flaked fish and using the skin of the dried fish as a vehicle for flavour and texture in a cannelloni. How to make […]
Okwu-oji is a spiced peanut paste served with garden eggs. One day at work, one colleague, P brings a rather large tub of Okwu-oji for another colleague, O. O is sure he’ll never see the bottom of the tub and so was glad to gift me some (that huge tub emptied out sooner than we […]