An African Food Odyssey

It's a great pleasure to be speaking to the students of Rouxbe Culinary School. My colleague Adante Hart and I will be discussing the often overlooked ongoing food relationship between America and Africa. The discussion will be based on my food oddesy in the U.S and the cuisine that has been a product of that experience. That cuisine, which I call Afro Futuristic Conscious Cuisine is a testament of what is possible as well as a prescription of what has to be done if the full culinary potential of a sustainable world will even remotely stand a chance of seeing the light of day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KY6AwD3veis

The Original Illegal Immigrants in Light

It's seems as though it's time to come out of hibernation that the Corona virus had forced many of us in. That is how I felt after spending some productive time with my friend Manda Maples  at the North Carolina Museum of Art.  Amanda and I have a knack for doing out-of-the-box projects. Our collaboration has left a few imprints on the museum that are still visible to visitors today. For example, there is a video of a dinner I hosted for the Museum a few years ago where I discussed about the connection between food and art. The video clip plays continuously on the exhibition floor. 

Amanda has invited me to make a commentary on a piece of art  for an  upcoming exhibition. That piece depict people of African descent.  That commentary will accompany the art piece once it's on display. The particular piece of art is quite old and it was a great feeling to read through the file that tracks all the places it has been on display.

Of interest to me is the whole movement of repatriation of African pieces and giving credit for those that were legally acquired. I called the former  pieces of art the first "illegal immigrants ".  So when I hear people talking about illegal immigration in this country, that is the images that first come to mind. As I left the museum, I felt like I was leaving a detention center. Then I remembered that the word Photography comes from the greek words that literally means drawing with light. The space in Western museums is a dark one and the only way out of that darkness is through light and justice. In order words, the picture that many of the African visitors to those spaces should no longer leave there feeling like the original illegal immigrants of the modern day.

It's a big help to have an alley in that painful journey..

Village phoenix

When the country shut down due to the pandemic, I was mostly stuck in the house. My nostalgia for my young days on our family farm inspired several essays that I will always treasure. As a way of returning to the farm virtually,

When the country shut down due to the pandemic,  I was mostly stuck in the house. My nostalgia for my youthful days on our family farm inspired several essays that I will always treasure. As a way of returning to the farm virtually,I teamed up with some family members and  close friends to start an incubation of all the indigenous bananas of my youth. We had to clear trees, sow some wood  and then plant some bananas. This month marked our first harvest and we are so proud to be sharing our first twenty bananas with friends who were so supportive of our project. It was one of the most challenging projects I have worked on.

There were the heartbreaks from shaddy work as well as the reality of adjusting our expectations.  In the end, the outpouring of support from people I didn't even know before formed some unforgettable moments.  The fruits are just a bonus on top of the lessons we all learned. But above all else, the fact that I am growing bananas that have been in my family for over 100 years is simply phenomenal in the age of fiat food!

Thanks to my family, my neighbors  and Stanley Gatheca for their support in donating banana plants and keeping an eye on the magical space where love is both abundant and always in season.

The first 5 bananas have literally fallen to the ground partly because they were not staked and also due to the heavy size of the banana fruit. It is ironic because the falling of the banana plants might symbolize the new awakening in the village. The International outlook of the farm might just be the mark of a new Renaissance of my squeaking food culture.

The efforts are diverse and the benefits are varied. Yet only those near will consume the fruits. While those eating the bananas might never know the joy the picture brings to an indigenous chef, I am most confident that the village phoenix has arisen in me and hopefully to many who will be nourished by the food and stories inspired by our tiny tiny farm. The best might be yet to come forth. In any case, so much joy already bubbles with and without.

My Indigenous New Year Resolution

Lee Kwan Yù once commented about the quality of leaders in a country. He suggested that a country should be led by its smartest members and that they should be honest , transparent and paid according to fair market rates. He ended with the warning that electing those that seem cheap leads to cheap and corrupt government. I would loudly make the same arguments about friends. 

I therefore celebrate all those who have been honest and transparent in friendship.  I am most grateful for those who helped me be a better human being. Those with whom I collaborated with to turn nice ideas into reality are especially dear to my heart. Family is a private matter and no one has much choice about that. That means that good to and from them is nothing special to front in public. Community and friends have the biggest dividends in terms of social outcomes. Families that elect leaders simply because they are blood relatives or have the same skin color have been responsible for much suffering. 

 It may sound contradictory but we are genetically wired to love our own family over and above everyone else. Learning to tame that love for family for the sake of others is where we have the most struggle. 

A breakdown of family has a lot to do with the community and the philosophy that governs that community more than anything else. 

Formerly enslaved or colonized people find it too hard to have healthy relationships regardless of how wealthy they might be.  That is just a fact. America, South Africa, Israel  and Brazil are interesting case studies.  I specifically chose those communities for their contrast between the indigenous people who lived there before the current inhabitants. Those countries have great inequalities that threaten to tear them apart. Yet the same countries boast some of the most resilient indigenous people whose cultures have lasted for thousands of years of sustainable existence. 

There are many selfless people in all three countries who have continued to support justice for people suffocating from legally sanctioned oppression.  The actions of such outsiders can bring about radical changes in any country. 

As I start the new season, I am mindful of my duty to community and friends. I salute all who have supported me in my endeavors and offer my solidarity with those sitting on the fence. May we all find strength to do that which is right even when it is not comfortable. 

Saying happy new year to me is one thing, doing it another. Steve Biko, Edward Said, John Brown and Carlos Mariategui immediately come to mind as folks who have set great examples of taking responsibility. Making this year the year of responsibility. For that, I am willing to pay fair market rates to bring that dream to reality. But the first down-payment is holding myself responsible to those principles. 

Kagùrani : Gìkuyù Indigenous Cosmos & Food

I am humbled by Judi Shils invitation to give the Keynote address at the Harvest Gala for Turning Green in Marin County in California. Shils is the executive director of Turning Green, a non-profit based in Marin County California that has earned a lot of accolades for pushing organic food in the local public schools. I first heard of the organization a while back after and was amazed to learn of their program that lasted for two straight years of offering organic food to the public schools in one school district. Little did I know that I would be working with them.

Shils also requested to create the main course for the event as a collaborative effort with some of the top chefs in the area. The list of chefs I will be working with are Dolores Coleman of Dee's Organic Kitchen; Mike Garcia, the executive chef of Cavallo Point Lodge, Daniel Tellez of South Lot Oxbow; Omar Huerta of Calavera Restaurant; Ashley Ugarte of Dandelion Restaurant.

There are several other reasons I found the whole story of Marin County interesting. One is Judi Shils concept of a Conscious Kitchen. For the first time, I will be preparing Afro Futuristic Conscious Cuisine in a Conscious Kitchen.

Secondly the area has a history of racial and food injustice tied to the policies of the U.S government and war. The government lured many Southern Blacks to the area with promises of gainful employment and living conditions around the shipping container industry during the Second European war, otherwise known as WWII. The government reneged on it's promises and the Black Southerns found them living in segregated substandard conditions and earning low wages.

The project was abandoned following the end of the war. My dinner will be a tribute to all those families whose hopes were dashed due to expediency. Its upon those shoulders that we will build a new alliance in a different type of war: food justice, climate change and racism. The team will include African descent, Latin X and Caucasian.

BLOOD POTATOES

When I learned more about the Potato Famine of 1845 in Ireland, it made think about the history of my village and the South American tuber.  The story of how the tuber left those shores and found its way to Europe is a story drenched in blood.

The first conquistadors came with a double edged sword of conversation of the indigenous people, along with their lands and culture into servants of the Vatican and the European nations that staked claims to various parts of that region. The other side of the sword was geared towards the accumulation of silver and gold. 

I can make the case that the handle of that sword was food. Many types of food found their way back into Europe and eventually to the rest of the world. Many things have changed ever since but the destructive spirit in which the food exchange seems to haunt the global food system. Some of the foods that the various came from South America from the Incas and the Aztecs are major contributors of Climate Change. Amongst those crops are corn and potatoes. 

Much has been written about the impact of corn on the global climate on one hand and on the climate of our health. To raise two of the primary issues with corn, consider the fact the corn is amongst three of the top GMO crops. That means that more Roundup and other pesticides is used on corn that almost any other crop. Secondly, the issue of diabetes due to consumption of cheap calories and sugar made from corn is a major global health problem. 

How do potatoes fair in the above ranking? The answer is a bit complex. What I can say is that the potato has made more people French than the number of French people in the world.  French fries and their arc enemies , Chips (as fries are known in regions formerly colonized by Britain) are almost as ubiquitous as corn. 

The growing of 3 types of potatoes caused a famine in Ireland which led to the death of over 1 million people, followinga potato blight. Bolivia was faced by the same potato blight but with over 500 types of potatoes, the didn't experience any famine.

These two common foods acquired unjustly might be inflicting revenge? Food justice is real and it has no statute of limitation.

KUPA KUTENDA

My connections to Zimbabwe keep growing from year to year. This interesting development is deeply connected to music, books and food. Last year,  Makhosi KaMahlangu invited me to write a preface to a book entitled African Food Revolution.  I was immediately drawn music of my youth.

I had been struggling my privious grades but 1980 marked the year of a rebound. I was truly on survival mode. But Survival just happened to be a hit song by an international rasing star known as Bob Marley.  The other song  on the vinyl record was a song entitled Zimbabwe. 

I obviously didn't know the significance of both songs at the time. As I would later find out, the song Zimbabwe had been composed and performed at the independence celebration of the country Zimbabwe.  The song started with a section of a speech by the late Haile Selassie, head of state of Ethiopia, given at the League of Nations. Ethiopia was dealing with Italian occupation at the time. 

 It Was another 5 years before we added a second Bob's record in the form of a cassette untitled Uprising. Two of my favorite songs from that record were Coming In From the Cold and Redemption Song.

When my brother, Mhoze Chikowero gifted me a copy of his book entitled African Music, Power, and Being in Colonial Zimbambwe, I knew I was in for a treat. It's a great joy to be able to connect with this African scholar through his writing.  Then I read the first chapter and I was deeply touched by the deep connections he makes between music and power. It's now abundantly clear that we are all in the midst of a great  Uprising of our Indigenous Consciousness. The Indigenous cultural elements that survived colonial and religious onslaught are forming a solid foundation. 

In my memory, Zimbabwe is a word that has been tied to music and struggle.  The future doesn't look any different but now includes food and books. Like three bearded sisters, food, books and music have all been instrumental in the struggle for justice. That is why I say Kupa Kutenda to those three siblings.

FLAVOR AS AN ANCESTRAL FLAG

My two aunts, Wanja and Njoki, were the queens of Mùraru bananas. Muraru bananas were a popular type of banana that doesn't change color even when it ripens. These bananas have  a lovely sweet, floral taste, with a hint of cinnamon.

 My two auts have were a centrifugal force that kept me a float. Looked another way, It was as if I was the equator and aunt Wanja was the "North Pole", while aunt Njoki was the “South Pole".  Life revolved around a central axis with these women on the outer edges. Interesingly, Aunt Wanja lived 30 minutes east of us while aunt Njoki lived 30 minutes west.

 Technically, Njoki was my grandmother as she was a sister to my grandmother.  Whatever we called her didn't matter. What mattered was the unconditional love I felt around Njoki. She didn't only love but she was a master of demonstrating that love. I didn't have to guess and she didn't need to verbally tell me how she loved me. Love was like a soundtrack of her existence.  

Wanja was the middle of my father’s three sisters and  was more like my second mother to me. I felt right at home anytime I went to her home

As fate would have it, aunt Njoki would eventually lose her sight and move into our home. Consequently, my mother was dealing with mental illness at the same time. On one hand, one can imagine two sick ladies in our home and the challenges that represents. And yet nothing could be further from reality. Having my aunt at our home greatly enriched our home and brought so much joy that it overshadowed the pain of their illness.  Since aunt Njoki had all her faculties besides her sight, she filled her home with interesting stories and wisdom. In many ways, she filled the void left by my ill mother. 

One thing bound those two women together was their mastery and cultivation of Mùraru bananas. I can't remember one time that I went to either the "North Pole" or the "'South Pole" and did not eat Mùraru bananas.

Aunt Njoki passed on in the late 80s while Aunt Wanja passed away in the late 90s. I attended both of their last rights. Ever since, I have never tasted a Mùraru banana that didn't remind me of the two luminaries.  The Mùraru flavor is a flag of our imaginary planet that forever resides in my head. This flag is hoisted every time I taste a Mùraru banana. In Mùraru, I unite  with my wonderful ancestors really never left us as they are neatly nestled in my taste buds.