A taste of African culture

A culinary event during a recent Africa Week in Beijing aims to not only bring the continent's cuisine to China but also to enhance exchanges beyond the dining room, Erik Nilsson reports.

The dinner table can serve as a platform for more Chinese to better understand Africa, a recent culinary event in Beijing sought to show.

Thirty-two people - including Cabo Verde's ambassador, Tania Romualdo, and Angola's ambassador, Joao Salvador dos Santos Netode - attended a dinner on May 21, presenting home-cooked dishes from four African countries in different regions to demonstrate how cuisine communicates culture.

"The value of this culinary evening is to highlight African gastronomy and to provide an opportunity for Africans and Chinese to break bread together," says Zahra Baitie, CEO Kente & Silk, the company that organized the meal.

The social enterprise seeks to advance Sino-African ties and people-to-people exchanges.

"Africa is a continent that is relatively unknown to many people - and its food culture even less so. Our goal ... is to present Africa from the point of view of its culinary wealth while also creating opportunities for meaningful engagement."

The second Africa Week the company hosted in Beijing also featured an art exhibition, a forum for China-Africa digital partnerships, a film screening and dialogue, and a talent show, among other activities. Profits went to the winner of a startup-pitch contest for African entrepreneurs in China - Hamster International, a food-delivery and content app aimed at foreigners.

The four-course meal was also meant to showcase dishes presented by budding African catering companies in China. Three of the four chefs work in the sector in the country.

"The depiction of Africans in China is often quite limited to that of students and traders," Baitie says.

"But there are so many Africans creating businesses that provide value to various communities in China. We thought about this when choosing chefs. In addition, we thought that many people may know western African food but may have less knowledge of southern African food or eastern African food.

"An event like this can help provide a sense of both the richness of African culture, its history of engagement with the rest of the world and also how it's evolving. By having dishes from different parts of Africa, we aimed to show - literally and figuratively - the diversity of the continent and help to challenge notions of Africa as one place."

Zimbabwean chef Gladmore Sibanda, who presented a traditional stew, a dessert and a beverage, believes the event was as an "eyeopener" for China's hospitality industry.

"It is of paramount importance to start seeing African foods in Chinese hotels because I believe food is our common denominator. It unites us. And everyone needs to eat," he says.

"You can't talk about culture or traditions and not mention food. Hence, it's very critical for Chinese and other people to experience both sides of the coin as we continue in our Africa-China relationship."

Sibanda, who has lived in China for six years, served a "road-runner" stew called nkukhu makhaya, which translates as "chicken from your rural home".

"A good welcome when you visit a Zimbabwean family is that they slaughter a chicken for you to make a good traditional stew," he says.

He also presented homemade umqombothi, an alcoholic drink concocted using maize, yeast and sorghum malt fermented for a week.

Sudanese chef Limya Adam, who has lived in China for nearly seven years, prepared salata salad made with pureed eggplant with peanut butter and cumin.

Kenyan chef Khadija Osman, who has been in China for three years, presented sambusa, triangular pastries stuffed with meat or vegetables that were served with afiza, an Ethiopian green-lentil salad drizzled with lemon vinaigrette, as starters.

Entrees were Sibanda's Zimbabwean stew served with pap, a cornmeal porridge thick enough to shape, and injera by Ethiopian chef Abenet Belay, who has lived in China for nearly seven years.

"Ethiopian food is famous for hot, spicy food served on top of soft, spongy pancake-like flat bread called injera," she says.

"Injera features a slightly sour flavor that comes from fermentation. The tangy flavor is designed to complement the flavors found in Ethiopian stews."

Diners use the bread made from an endemic gluten-free grain called teff to scoop up the fiery dollops of stew.

"To me and many other Ethiopians, cuisine is more than just mixed ingredients. It's culture," she says.

"In our culture, cuisine is a way of sharing and spreading love on a plate."

Baitie points out that, while many dining customs vary, Chinese and Africans share the concept that meals are times for people to come together.

She quotes Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe, who said: "A man who calls his kinsmen to a feast does not do so to save them from starving. They all have food in their own homes. When we gather together in the moonlit village ground, it is not because of the moon. Every man can see it in his own compound. We come together because it is good for kinsmen to do so."

Contact the writer at erik_nilsson@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Global 05/31/2019 page16)