Out of Africa

Prepared Foods, July, 1999 by Wilbert Jones

A melting pot of cuisines, the diverse regions of Africa offer simple foods and unique flavors.

Africa's history of wars, colonization, frontiering and slavery has had an effect on the culture, language and cuisine of nearly every country there.

As a result, this continent of over 35 countries and 1,000 spoken languages has become a melting pot of cooking techniques, and African food ingredients have taken on the identity of Old European, Far East Asian and Indian cuisine.

North Africa

Bordered by the Mediterranean Sea, North African countries such as Morocco, Algeria, Libya and Egypt are Muslim influenced. Most of the people follow the dietary rules established by the Koran and its interpreters.

Islamic traditions forbid the eating of pork and the meat and blood of any animal that has not been sacrificed to God. Followers of Islam do not consume alcoholic beverages, but numerous drinks are made from fruit syrups. Residents of Egypt and Morocco consume coffee heavily in addition to a variety of green and mint teas.

Morocco is perhaps the leading authority at incorporating core elements of the Mediterranean diet: olives, legumes, pasta, olive oil and very little meat. With French being its second official language, the city of Casablanca houses countless couscous and French-inspired restaurants.

East & West Africa

Daily meals in the countries of East and West Africa often consist of stews and soups along with a starch. Residents descend from a wide range of cultural backgrounds, including Black African, East Indian, Dutch, English and Arab.

Stews consist of a variety of vegetables with little or no meat, poultry or fish. The starch varies from bread or rice to fufu, which is made by pounding starchy grains and vegetables such as plantains or yams into flour that is boiled to a paste. In the United States, specialty supermarkets and gourmet stores carry a variety of instant plantain and yam flours.

Ethiopian flavors continue to grow in popularity in America. The African Heritage Company, N.Y., manufactures Ethiopian seasonings and salts. Founder Rachel Yohannes, who grew up in Ethiopia, reproduces these flavors in five retail products. Three Afri-Q brand products (a hot sauce, all seasoning spice sauce, and a sweet & spicy all seasoning spice) contain the signature Ethiopian seasoning Berbere, which combines sun-dried red chilies, chives, tarragon, garlic, cardamom, coriander and fenugreek. Consumers use the products as seasonings and sauces for cooked rice, pasta and vegetables.

Yohannes also produces two Sheba's Shake brand Ethiopian seasoning salts for salads and marinades. The salts retail at upscale grocery and department stores.

South Africa

South African cuisine is described as European-Creole cooking with an African twist. However, it is the Western Cape region of South Africa that is the home of the Cape Malay cuisine, the most popular type of cooking throughout South Africa. A flavorful culmination of 300 years of culinary heritage, Cape Malay cuisine encompasses all facets of cultures, from the Dutch settlers and the indigenous Khoisan people to the slaves from Bengal, East Africa and Indonesian islands.

Signature Cape Malay foods are sosaties (kebabs), bobotie (curried mince dishes that are prepared as one meal dishes) and bredies (meat, tomato and vegetable casseroles). The Cass Abrahams Cape Cuisine Company, Capetown, manufactures more than 32 Cape Malay retail food products that are currently distributed throughout South Africa and Western Europe. The products will be available in the United States in October 1999.

One of the best-selling products is Masala Cape Malay Spices, a ground mixture of dried red chilies, black peppercorn, cumin, coriander, turmeric, ginger, cloves, cinnamon and cardamom. A variety of bredie casseroles and lamb and mutton dishes utilize Masala.

African Ingredients

Various African cuisines are making headway into American retail products. For example, Sahara Natural Foods Inc., Berkeley, Calif., manufactures Casbah[R] Lentil Pilaf All Natural Mix. Uncle Ben's International Grains, Houston, now offers Couscous Moroccan Chicken.

These and other African-influenced products rely heavily on essential African ingredients. Some of these (or variations) listed below may be native to the Caribbean, South America, Far East Asia and India, but they have a permanent home in Africa.

* Fenugreek. This spice is the seed of an aromatic plant of the legume family. It grows in North Africa but is used throughout the continent in Egyptian breads, the Ethiopian Berbere spice mixture, and a curry spice mixture of Cape Malay in South Africa. The pale, pebble-shaped seeds have a bittersweet, burnt sugar flavor and aftertaste.

* Bitter Leaf. These leafy greens are prepared like spinach and appear in soups and stews in East and West Africa. Washing and rubbing the leaves with salt before using them removes some of the bitter flavor.

* Cassava. This large, long starch root with a tough brown skin and crisp white flesh is a staple in African cooking. It is used to make tapioca, a starch extracted from the root of the cassava plant and used for thickening stews.