A culinary journey from Africa to the Americas is an adventure in flavor combinations and ingredients. We can explore these culinary connections right in Chicago. Here are seven places to start.
A culinary journey from Africa to the Americas is an adventure in flavor combinations and ingredients.
Many of the people who were enslaved were captured because they knew how to cultivate rice, and American Indigenous tribes taught them how to process cassava and make a multitude of meals out of corn. By the 1800s, West African okra soup and jollof rice started to appear in the handwritten recipe collections of women in the American South, along with dishes we now know as gumbo and jambalaya.
Jollof is the ancestor of jambalaya, and folks from Senegal, Nigeria and Ghana often deliberate over who makes the best version of this red rice dish with tomato purée, onions and seasonings that might include garlic, hot smoked peppers, dried thyme, mustard, curry powder and two popular West African staples: Maggi brand stock cubes and palm oil.
“One of my favorite memories involving a tradition with African roots is of my dad making sopa de caracol, a coconut soup with conch and root vegetables, served with coconut bread. It felt like a huge hug from him,” says Yari Vargas, owner and executive chef at Casa Yari in Logan Square.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Chicago crime: Man found shot to death inside empty Chicago Lawn business, police sayA 57-year-old man was found shot to death inside an empty business in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood Tuesday night, Chicago police said.
Read more »
'Hamilton' returning to Chicago in September, Broadway in Chicago announcesThe musical 'Hamilton' is set to return to Chicago in September, Broadway in Chicago announced Wednesday.
Read more »
Julian ‘Jumpin’ Perez makes the leap into Chicago politics - Chicago ReaderLast summer, Chicago radio figure Julian 'Jumpin' Perez announced his bid for alderman of the 26th Ward.The veteran house-music DJ knows how to make people dance, but can he inspire them to vote? | ✍️ imLeor
Read more »
Meet the rising bread queen of Chicago - Chicago ReaderIn the video for the song “Agege Bread,” the late comedian Sir Kay Kamoru plays a naif—a rural, Igbo visitor to the UK who, when confronted with a full English breakfast (bacon, sausages, eggs, beans, tomatoes, etc.), embarks on a madcap quest across London in search of the soft, squishy brioche-like staple bread of Nigeria. […]
Read more »
Chicago punk loses a champion - Chicago ReaderDem Hopkins didn’t just run Oz, the former gay bar that helped birth the local scene. He’d lived on the streets himself, and he devoted the same passion he had for punk to the cause of housing justice. | ✍️ imLeor
Read more »
How to watch ‘Chicago Med,’ ‘Chicago Fire’ and ‘Chicago P.D.’ tonight (2/22/23): FREE live stream'Chicago Med' kicks off the three NBC dramas at 8 p.m. on Wednesdays.
Read more »