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...
I’ve always been fascinated by Mingau. By always, I mean since I learnt about it, about it’s existence. In trying to find out more about it, to classify it and understand it, I happened upon lots of Brazilian/ Portuguese references. Mingau, from the old Tupi mina’u means ‘that which is soaked‘. To this end, there...
Mingau, a place on the north eastern coast of Brazil, in Bahia Mingua, a porridge of tapioca popularly eaten over Easter on Lagos island, Nigeria Mingau, in literature, of Brazil mentions repeatedly, ‘a sweetened hot drink of tapioca, water, and milk.‘ Mingau is a porridge made from milled cassava, cooked in coconut milk and finished with...
Because food is more than eating, and that which begins in pain can be transformed. Ever since I heard about Acarajé in 2009, I haven’t been the same. In ‘Women, Food and God‘, author Geneen Roth says that everything about life is on the plate. And it is true – joy, sorrow, remembrance, hope, worship, fellowship, pain, anger,...
(Updated 10th September 2011) You go as a prisoners Enslaved by bonds of chain But still….in your thoughts You’re free