Could African Foods Become Mainstream?
Watch my interview with Felicity Cloake, an absolute foodie & one of the UK's most celebrated food writers, plus a fabulous Supperclub in Sussex
The weekend before I sat with Felicity, we celebrated Africana with a jamboree in London and in Brighton. It was amazing and overwhelming at the same time. One can only have a cookbook debut once and so I decided I would celebrate my work, and all of you who made this dream come true. More to come on that. That night Felicity shared her triumphant rendition of the Slow cooked Beans with Sweet Peppers from Africana. A dish I describe in the book as ‘home’. A sweet and warming bowlful of my mother's love. And this simple act really tugged at my heartstrings. Although she didn’t bring me any of it for breakfast the next morning, I enjoyed every minute spent with her and talking about food. Surprisingly we didn’t talk much about our beloved dogs. What a delight it was to sit with her and to dive into the world of Africana. We talked about, why I wrote such a book, covering such an expanse and people, the frugality of the sumptuous recipes and why oh why much of African cooking has yet to hit big in the mainstream… until now!
Do you think African foods (lets put Moroccan to the side for now) could become mainstream? Be honest and open please. As our community here is so wonderfully diverse, and your options matter a great deal to me, I would love to read your thoughts and discuss more together.
Our interview was live streamed on 22nd October and available for only 7 days after broadcast date. So if you didn’t catch it you have until the end of today Friday (I think) to enjoy the chat!
UPCOMING EVENT
Sunday, 6th November 2022, 7pm
Africana Supper Club in Stunning Eco Home in Sussex (Only 6 spaces left)
Join me for a fabulous Supperclub in Lewes (near Laughton) with award winning writer and podcast host Gilly Smith (of Cooking the books podcast) An Africana feast hosted in her beautiful eco modern home surrounded by nine acres of wild flower meadows and bluebell woods in a rewilded wonderland.
We will enjoy stories and plentiful food from my new cookbook AFRICANA, as you travel across the continent one dish at a time. With six double bedrooms in the house overlooking the meadow and another three in the barn you can also stay over and enjoy a lovely Sussex retreat to reconnect with nature.
Only a few spaces left for supper.
Supperclub: £45pp
Bed & Breakfast: £60
Write to info@leratofoods.com or click here https://leratofoods.com/pages/contact if you will like to join us and also let us know if you will like to stay over as well and payment instructions will be sent to you.
Say hello & cook along with me on socials:
I really hope so. As a British woman with grandchildren with both Ghanaian and Jamaican heritage I have come to really appreciate the food in all its glory and subtleties. Jollof rice with chicken is my absolute favourite and cook it myself, but still have some way to go to compete with the experts!