Ivy Newton-Gamble's Blog: Everyday African Food, page 6

Coffee Growers Link to New Markets

[image error]Growing up on a coffee plantation, Asnakech Thomas is proud that her family comes from a coffee-rich region in Ethiopia's Southern Nations, Nationalities and People's Region. She is also proud that, in February 2007, her coffee was ranked highest in a pre-selection process for Ethiopia's first-ever private coffee auction. This enabled her to sell the coffee for $2 per pound, a 50 percent increase from before the auction.

Asnakech is participating in a USAID program focused on improving specialty coffee production and quality in Ethiopia. The program helped Asnakech install and operate an eco-friendly coffee processing machine. The project also provided her with expertise on how to create specialty coffee throughout the production process — from tree care, to picking and drying techniques. At the same time, USAID worked with the coffee chains to organize a coffee auction. The auction connected Ethiopian farmers with buyers from more than 40 countries. Some of these specialty coffees sold for as much as $5 per pound, 280 percent more than typical prices.

As Asnakech finished processing coffee for the season, samples of coffee from her and 20 other growers with the program were shipped around the world for buyers to taste and grade. The auction gave producers like Asnakech an opportunity to reach new markets and showcase their specialty coffees. The samples sold at the auction were small and select, and enabled buyers and producers to connect and make long-term trade commitments. After USAID assistance from seed to sales, Asnakech's samples were bought by an exporter and she made connections with other buyers for future sales.

Asnakech knows she stands out in the coffee industry as a woman, but being the only woman coffee producer and exporter makes her want to work harder. She explained that at first, the farmers who brought their coffee berries (the fruit that contains the coffee beans) to her mill could not believe a woman was in charge. "Now they are used to it. It's good — almost 80 percent of the people who pick my coffee are women. I want to encourage them," she said.

As for her coffee placing highest, Asnakech says that it was good, but not good enough. "I received a score of 95. Next time, I want 100."

Credit USAID

Fried Fish

The most common ingredients in Chadian cuisine are local fruit, rains and vegetables, milk and meat products. Millet forms the basis for many Chadian staples, as does sorghum. The main protein source is fish, though beef and chicken also form a significant part of the diet. Stews are often made with okra and cassava leaves are the main greens.

Fried Fish is a traditional Chadian recipe for classic dish of fish with garlic cooked in tomato sauce.

Ingredients

6 medium whole fish with the heads on

12 garlic cloves

2 tbsp flour

5 tbsp oil

3 large ripe tomatoes

Salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper to taste

Directions

Clean and scale the fish then cut into steaks. Pierce the flesh of the fish with a knife and place the garlic slivers inside. Dip the fish in the flour then heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the fish on high heat. When the fish is golden brown all over add the halved tomatoes, cover the pan and allow to simmer on a very low heat for about 40 minutes. Add a little water if necessary and serve immediately on a bed of rice.

Chad

Chad has a rich cultural heritage because of its vast variety of beautiful people and languages. Chad is a landlocked country in north central Africa, with a territory twice the size of Texas. Population densities range from 54 persons per square kilometer in southern zones to 0.1 persons in the vast northern desert region, itself larger than France. The population of the capital city of N'Djamena, situated at the confluence of the Chari and Logone Rivers, is representative of Chad's ethnic and cultural diversity, with a current population of over one million people.

Lake Chad is the second-largest lake in West Africa and is one of the most important wetlands on the continent. Home to hundreds of species of fish and birds, the lake has shrunk dramatically in the last 4 decades due to increased water use and inadequate rainfall. Bordered by Chad, Niger, Nigeria, and Cameroon, Lake Chad currently covers 1,350 square kilometers, down from 25,000 square kilometers in 1963. The Chari and Logone Rivers, both of which originate in the Central African Republic and flow northward, provide most of the water entering Lake Chad.

Kenyan Street Food

Millions of people across Africa are dependent on street food not only for nourishment, but as a means of making a living. Street vendors are found on almost any street corner in Kenya. Vendors buy their necessities at small local shops, on street markets or directly from producers. Just like with any street food anywhere in the world the hygiene and sanitation practices of street food vendors should be a consideration before eating the food.

Pronounced ba-boor-tea, bobotie is the national dish of South Africa

[image error]Pronounced ba-boor-tea, bobotie is the national dish of South Africa. Bobotie is a South African dish consisting of spiced minced meat baked with an egg-based topping. Bobotie is a slightly sweet but savory dish.Bobotie is a very old South African dish with probable origins in Indonesia or Malaysia. The name derives from the Indonesian bobotok.

Bobotie, a South African comfort food

Serves 5

Ingredients:

•3 slices day old white bread

•1 1/2 cups whole milk

•2 medium onions chopped

•1 garlic clove minced

•1/2 cup slivered almonds

•1/2 cup raisins

•1 tbsp sugar

•1 tbsp. salt

•1 tsp curry powder

•1/8 tsp black pepper

•3 tbsp mango chutney

•1 tsp. lemon juice

•1 1/2 lbs. ground beef

•2 eggs

Directions:

Soak bread in milk. Squeeze milk from bread, reserving milk. Combine all ingredients, except milk and 1 egg. Press mixture into an 11 x 7 inch baking dish. Add enough milk to reserve milk to make 3/4 cup. Beat together milk and remaining egg. Pour over meat mixture. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until golden brown and firm to the touch.

Djibouti

The French Territory of the Afars and the Issas became Djibouti in 1977. The economy is based on service activities connected with the country's strategic location and status as a free trade zone in the Horn of Africa.

Two-thirds of Djibouti's inhabitants live in the capital city; the remainder are mostly nomadic herders. Scanty rainfall limits crop production to fruits and vegetables, and most food must be imported.

Djibouti occupies a strategic geographic location at the mouth of the Red Sea and serves as an important transshipment location for goods entering and leaving the east African highlands.

Full name:

The Republic of Djibouti

Capital:

Djibouti

Location:   

Eastern Africa, bordering the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, between Eritrea and Somalia

Area - comparative:   

slightly smaller than Massachusetts

Population:   

740,528 (July 2010 est.)

Nationality:   

noun: Djiboutian(s)

adjective: Djiboutian

 

Ethnic groups:   

Somali 60%, Afar 35%, other 5% (includes French, Arab, Ethiopian, and Italian)

 

Religions:   

Muslim 94%, Christian 6%

 

Languages:   

French (official), Arabic (official), Somali, Afar

Zanzibar comes from the Persian word Zangi-bar

Zanzibar's initial settlers were Bantu-speaking Africans and from the 10th century Persians arrived. But it was Arab incomers, predominantly Omanis, whose impact was paramount. Stone Town acknowledged as a World Heritage Site by The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) set up trading colonies and in 1832 the Omani sultan moved his capital from Muscat to Zanzibar, which had become a major slave-trading centre. Zanzibar became an independent country governed by a sultan. The slave trade was abolished in 1873 and in 1890 the British declared Zanzibar a protectorate. In 1963 the islands regained independence, but upheaval was around the corner. Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous part of the United Republic of Tanzania, in East Africa. Zanzibar comes from the Persian word Zangi-bar- Zangi, black and bar, the place of. Zanzibar consists of the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones:  Unguja, the main island, informally referred to as Zanzibar and Pemba. Other nearby island countries and territories include Comoros and Mayotte to the south, Mauritius and Réunion to the far southeast, and the Seychelles Islands about 1,500 km to the east.

The Berbers of Algeria

Algeria is located Northern Africa, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Morocco and Tunisia. The Sahara desert envelops a little more than four-fifths of the land in Algeria. Oil and gas reserves were discovered in the 1950s, but most Algerians live along the northern coast. Algeria supplies large amounts of natural gas to Europe and energy exports are the backbone of the economy. Algeria has the eighth-largest reserves of natural gas in the world and is the fourth-largest gas exporter; it ranks 15th in oil reserves.

Algeria was originally inhabited by Berbers until the Arabs conquered North Africa in the 7th century. Staying mainly in the mountainous regions, the Berbers resisted the spreading Arab influence, managing to preserve much of their language and culture. They make up some 30% of the population. Part of the Turkish Ottoman empire from the 16th century, Algeria was conquered by the French in 1830. Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. Today most Berber-speaking people live in Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Mali and Niger. Although they are the original inhabitants of North Africa, and in spite of numerous incursions by Phoenicians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Ottomans and French, Berbers lived in very contained communities. Having been subject to limited external influences, these populations lived free from acculturating factors.

Robben Island

[image error]Robben Island is known the world over as a place of banishment exile, isolation and imprisonment. For nearly 400 years, colonial and apartheid rulers banished those they regarded as political troublemakers, social outcasts and the unwanted of society to this 575-hectare rocky outcrop in Table Bay.

The Island's unwilling inhabitants included; slaves; political and religious leaders who opposed Dutch colonialism in East Asia; troublesome local Khoikhoi and African leaders who resisted British expansion in South Africa; Leprosy sufferers and other sick and the mentally disturbed; French Vichy prisoners of war; and most recently, political opponents of the apartheid regime in South African and Namibia.

During the apartheid years Robben Island became internationally known for its institutional brutality. Some freedom fighters spent more than a quarter of a century in prison for their beliefs. Yet people such as Nelson Mandela emerged to lead South Africa to democracy, with a message of tolerance, reconciliation and hope.

Those imprisoned on the Island succeeded in turning a prison "hell-hole" into a symbol of freedom and personal liberation.

Robben Island

While we will not forget the brutality of apartheid we will not want Robben Island to be a monument of our hardship and suffering. We would want it to be a triumph of the human spirit against the forces of evil a triumph of wisdom and largeness of spirit against small minds and pettiness a triumph of courage and determination over human frailty and weakness.

By Ahmed Kathrada, 1993 Imprisoned: 1964-1982 on Robben Island; 1982-1989 in Pollsmor prison

 

Kenya and the Kikuyu people

Kenya is a medium sized country on the eastern part of Africa. It measures approximately 580,367 km2 and it is the 47th largest country in the world. Its capital city is Nairobi which is in central Kenya. Other major cities include Kisumu and Mombasa while major towns are Nakuru, Kericho, Eldoret and Nyeri. Kenya has forty different ethnic groups which fall under Bantu, Nilotic and Cushitic speakers. The Bantu group is the largest with the Agikuyu community dominating it. Kenya is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south east, Lake Victoria and Uganda to the west, Somalia to the north east, Ethiopia to the north and Tanzania to the south.

The biggest ethnic group is the Kikuyu. They are part of the Bantu speaking people. They occupy the fertile slopes of Mount Kenya and they are mostly farmers. The name Kenya was derived from the kikuyu, kamba and embu names for Mount Kenya. These are Kirinyaga, Kiinya, and Kirinyaa. They believed that the mountain was God's resting place. They treated the mountain as a holy and sacred place. The word Kenya means God's resting place.

Kenya has a tropical climate. At the coast and central Kenya, it is very humid. The northern part of Kenya is very dry. The Great Rift Valley passes through the Kenya's highland making the region very fertile and it the best in the area for crop production. Kenya is also home of many different species of animals and birds. This is because o9f the conducive climate. The big five which are the lion, rhino, elephant, buffalo and leopard can be found here too.