The history of Calas, rice fritters is linked to enslaved West African women. The word itself sounds like a contraction of Akara – so ‘Kara/ Kala/ Cala. The Dictionary of American Food and Drink (click borrow at the top to view the entry) calls them a New Orleans breakfast sold by black (note enslaved) street...
There are interesting concepts in places and languages that express cultural acceptance, that touch on home and identity. Like aplatanado (male), aplatanada (female). In Cuba and The Dominican Republic, it’s a term that describes someone who has become ‘one of us’ – aplatanado or aplatanada. At the root of it is the word, platanos, of...
My mission in The New Nigerian Kitchen has many dimensions. It encompasses the totality, the entirety of Nigerian cuisine – from language to preservation of culinary history and heritage, and everything in between. We have to put words to our food, understand them for that’s one of the key ways we’ll be able to explain to others...
Puff Puff. Chinchin. Garau Garau. Fio Fio. Moyin Moyin. ChukChuk. Kuli Kuli. Goody Goody. Double double. Or reduplication if you want to be proper and all linguistic. Because duplicated words, repeated words carry weight. There are things you aren’t conscious of, till somehow you become conscious of them and the patterns emerge. It all began with Deepa,...
Four soups, One bowl, Supreme mash up = Federal Character. The first time M said ‘Federal Character’ I was behind my desk at work and I went ‘What? Why? How?’ He proceeded to talk about how the major tribes were represented, in the bowl – a new dimension to Geneen Roth and her belief – mine too,...
A Collection of ‘Chop’ Words, just because. Because you can chop up wood, fish, beef. Because you can chop, wack your food…aka eat with relish. Chop (Dictionary) verb ˈchäp chopped chop·ping 1 a : to cut into or sever usually by repeated blows of a sharp instrument b : to cut into pieces —often used with up...