The African Gourmet

Posts

What Is Shea Butter? Can You Eat It? (Food-Grade Guide)

What Is Shea Butter? Can You Eat It? (Food-Grade Guide) Shea butter is a vegetable fat made from the kernels of the African shea tree, Vitellaria paradoxa , which grows in the savanna belt of West Africa and into parts of East Africa. In West African kitchens it has long been a traditional cooking fat, used for frying, stews, and baking as well as for the skin. Yes, you can eat it when it is food-grade or unrefined culinary shea made for cooking; shea sold only as a cosmetic may contain fragrance or other additives and is not meant to be eaten. Did you know shea butter was …

Congolese Pondu and Fufu: Cassava Leaf Stew Recipe

Congolese Pondu and Fufu: Cassava Leaf Stew Recipe Did you know one cassava plant can give you a whole Congolese meal? Pondu is a rich green stew of finely chopped or pounded cassava leaves simmered in red palm oil with onion, hot pepper, tomato and smoked fish. It's served with fufu, a stiff, smooth dough made from boiled cassava root, which you pinch, roll and use to scoop the stew by hand. Part of: African Cuisine › Swallows & Starchy Staples Congolese pondu (cassava-leaf stew) served with a ball of cassava fufu. What is pondu? Pondu is the foundational lea…

Somalia's Lost Banana Trade: How a Top Export Fell Apart

Somalia's Lost Banana Trade How a Top Export Fell Apart Did you know bananas were once Somalia's biggest crop export? Through the late 1980s, banana farms along the Shabelle and Juba rivers fed a tightly linked chain of irrigation, packing, cold storage and Mogadishu's port. When central government collapsed in 1991, power, port and safe transport failed, harvested bananas spoiled within days, and exports collapsed; a brief mid-1990s revival by foreign companies did not last, taking generations of farm knowledge with them. Part of: Research Guide › Food Systems & Eco…

Agege Bread Recipe: Lagos's Soft, Sweet Street Loaf

Agege Bread The Soft, Sweet Street Loaf of Lagos, Nigeria Did you know Lagos's favorite street bread is named after a neighborhood? Agege bread comes from the Agege district of Lagos, where it was sold straight to commuters in the twentieth century. It's a soft, subtly sweet, pan-baked loaf made from a dough of flour, yeast, sugar, butter and salt, baked fresh daily and sold whole, perfect with eggs, spreads or tea. Part of: African Cuisine › Breads, Flatbreads & Porridges Photo 1. Agege bread is traditionally sold whole, not sliced. Its soft interior and lightly crisp…

Amen and Ashe: What Blessing Words Mean at the Table

Did you know the words said over a meal can shape how we eat it? Amen, from a Hebrew root meaning “to confirm, support, uphold,” seals a blessing before eating begins. Ashe (Àṣẹ), the Yoruba word for “the power to make things happen; so be it,” can be spoken before, during or after cooking. Both turn a meal into a moment of gratitude and togetherness. Part of: Research Guide › Meaning & Cosmology A sacred affirmation is a short word of agreement, like Amen or Ashe, spoken over food to bless it and the people sharing it. Amen and Ashe: What Blessing Words Mean at the Table How …

Questions Readers Ask

What is The African Gourmet?

The African Gourmet is Ivy’s home for sharing, exploring, and keeping alive African culinary heritage, online since 2006. Here, foodways—ingredients, techniques, rituals, ecology, labor, and trade—are treated as a way into understanding culture. The site is a living timeline, bringing history and today’s kitchens together so you can see culture changing in real time.

Why "Gourmet" in the name?

The name goes back to our beginnings as a culinary anthropology project and to a value we still hold: discernment. "Gourmet" here means a careful, taste-and-smell-first way of keeping food traditions alive. We choose depth over breadth, giving each post—whether a West African stew or the political story of a cashew nut—the care and context it deserves.

How do you check your facts?

I check my sources, note where stories disagree, and credit the people who shared their knowledge. My aim is to go beyond a list of facts and tell each food's story carefully, in layers. You can browse the stories by theme in the Research Guide.

How is content selected and organized?

We choose what to write about by asking three things: significance, context, and enduring value. Each post is tagged by theme (Foodway, Ingredient, Technique, Ritual, Ecology, Labor, Seasonality, etc.) and must meet our sourcing standards. We aim to be specific—tagging by ethnolinguistic group, region, and nation—so Africa’s many food stories are never flattened into one.

What geographic and cultural scope do you cover?

Our hope is to keep food traditions alive across all 54 African nations. We especially want to lift up stories that are too often overlooked. You will find deep looks at major cuisines alongside small, very local practices that broader surveys often leave out.

How do you handle sources when archives are silent?

When written records are absent, we cite living practice as a valid source. We hold ourselves to careful standards: interviews are written down (with permission), practices are observed in context, and knowledge is credited to the people and communities who hold it. This lets us honor what can’t be held in the hand—sensory knowledge, oral techniques, ritual contexts—with the same care as a printed text.

Can researchers and the public access the site?

Absolutely. Everyone is welcome here. All 20 years of posts are searchable and organized for many uses: academic research, lesson planning, journalism, and your own learning. We encourage citation. For in-depth research help, please contact us.

How does this work ensure genuine cultural preservation?

By working the same careful way since 2006, we have built more than a collection; we have created an irreplaceable record of context. We keep not just a recipe, but the labor, seasons, and meaning around it. This long, patient commitment helps future generations understand not only *what* was eaten, but *how* and *why*, in all the richness of its cultural moment.