African cuisine?

[Probono]

This is a general question but I am curious whether a lot of the food in Africa are spicy? Just wondering because it seems like most people i know here in the U.S of A seem to put hot sauce in almost everything. I had Ethiopian and Uganda food before but they aren't really spicy, at least the ones I tried.

Share your experience and some pictures would be appreciated.

 

[Christot]

Africa is a continent with 55 countries and an area covering 22% of the worlds's land mass. Do you really expect there's one answer to Africa?
Please note that pepper came from India and Chili from middle-south America so both are/were in principle unknown in Africa. Someone would need to import it (needs a harbour or similar), there needs to be a climate so it can grow (most people don't have the money to buy imported things) and also the people need to like it.

 

[Red Leg]

This is a general question but I am curious whether a lot of the food in Africa are spicy? Just wondering because it seems like most people i know here in the U.S of A seem to put hot sauce in almost everything. I had Ethiopian and Uganda food before but they aren't really spicy, at least the ones I tried.

Share your experience and some pictures would be appreciated.

Like any continent, every region has differences in how food is prepared. Across southern Africa, much of the indigenous population still living in a rural environment survives on a cornmeal mush to which is added bits of dried fish or meat with a bit of salt if they can find it. In Southern Africa, the white population is primarily of Dutch, British, and German heritage (with a few Huguenots thrown in) and food reflects that heritage - none of which will be mistaken for a Mexican mole or a Thai curry. In Mozambique a Portuguese tradition prevails. Across much of Eastern Africa there was a lot of Indian immigration and finding an Indian restaurant with relatively spicy food in towns like Beira isn't difficult.

Northern Africa reflects a whole different set of traditions that have been influenced, depending upon the region, to a greater or lesser extent by the French, Spanish, Italian, or English colonial experience. These tend to be more flavorful cuisines, in large part because the Arab world had access to eastern spices since the dawn of seaborne commerce and civilization.

Put hot sauce on everything ...... you are clearly cast among barbarians. I am from South Louisiana and we don't actually use the Mcllhenny product on anything we would eat. Though we are happy to sell it to all those rednecks north of I-10 and yankees who have no clue how to use real spices and peppers.

 

[kdenn]

i did have a SGM in ROTC who always had a bottle of Tabasco in a small holster on his web belt during field exercises. C rations and MREs are better with it!

 

[Firebird]

I have very limited experience and only in South Africa-I also can’t tolerate hot spices. I loved the food especially the meats. Everything being cooked on open flames-never propane gives it a natural flavor. Americans are just catching on to the “smoker” fad for similar reasons. Game meat has its own flavor and none of it had the same strength as elk or mule for deer for examples.

 

[Red Leg]

i did have a SGM in ROTC who always had a bottle of Tabasco in a small holster on his web belt during field exercises. C rations and MREs are better with it!

A tiny bottle is included in each MRE. The contractors can't cook any better than most Yankees.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

The staple carbohydrate varies all over the continent, and that is the starting point of the diet. In Southern Africa it is maize meal pap or sadza. In East Africa sadza is also there, but rise is widely eaten. In West Africa it is pounded cassava, sort of creamy consistency called fufu. North Africa it is couscous and wheat. No hard rules, there is blending along the way. In Southern Africa chunks of meat and sometimes fish are added. Meals are communal, so chillies are normally provided whole and fresh and you cut in what you want. Around here it is birds eyes, in East Africa you get extremely hot pale green variants thay sometimes are mistaken for salad - big mistake!

 

[spike.t]

If you are really talking about African cuisine then you have to find out what the local people eat...there is plenty of stuff from greens to tubers that are found in the bush...my wife makes what she calls African polony or chikanda, which I had never eaten before her..or all the other zambian local greens ...maize meal here is nshima and as Kevin said is the staple and sometimes only thing people have to eat...relish is the sauce that goes with nshima...it can be anything the people can get hold of to make it with....if very lucky meat...or fish...a tomato and onion relish is probably the most common as cheap...but local greens ..wild mushrooms in season etc can be used...here are couple of links ...as has been said a lot of outside influences on what is grown...cooked and eaten...but if you try you will find what is traditional African cuisine...and interesting ..the tubers for our chikanda come from on here...louise gets odd staff member or their wives to go look for them in the bush and she buys them.

100 Best Vegetable Dishes in the World

List includes: Parmigiana alla napoletana, Sopa Tarasca, Diri ak pwa, Parmigiana, Dal tadka.

www.tasteatlas.com

 

[Red Leg]

If you are really talking about African cuisine then you have to find out what the local people eat...there is plenty of stuff from greens to tubers that are found in the bush...my wife makes what she calls African polony or chikanda, which I had never eaten before her..or all the other zambian local greens ...maize meal here is nshima and as Kevin said is the staple and sometimes only thing people have to eat...relish is the sauce that goes with nshima...it can be anything the people can get hold of to make it with....if very lucky meat...or fish...a tomato and onion relish is probably the most common as cheap...but local greens ..wild mushrooms in season etc can be used...here are couple of links ...as has been said a lot of outside influences on what is grown...cooked and eaten...but if you try you will find what is traditional African cuisine...and interesting ..the tubers for our chikanda come from on here...louise gets odd staff member or their wives to go look for them in the bush and she buys them.

100 Best Vegetable Dishes in the World

List includes: Parmigiana alla napoletana, Sopa Tarasca, Diri ak pwa, Parmigiana, Dal tadka.

www.tasteatlas.com

The chikanda casserole looks really interesting. Is it eaten as a main course? I bet it would great with a chutney of some sort? Please tell Louise I'd love try it!

And the delele looks very similar to a south Louisiana gumbo which has its roots in the West Africans who were brought into the region. The name itself originates from a West African dialect word for "okra."

 

[spike.t]

Joe eat it as a snack or with main course..and with the chilli and other flavours never thought about any sauces with it...should be cooked over charcoal fire and takes quite a bit of time ....just been to ask Louise and she said she will make it for you...she has some tubers dried back in lusaka as its seasonal and at the end now...said she will ask if you want chillies in or not...so hopefully nobody has used them while we not there...and she loves okra

 

[Red Leg]

Joe eat it as a snack or with main course..and with the chilli and other flavours never thought about any sauces with it...should be cooked over charcoal fire and takes quite a bit of time ....just been to ask Louise and she said she will make it for you...she has some tubers dried back in lusaka as its seasonal and at the end now...said she will ask if you want chillies in or not...so hopefully nobody has used them while we not there...and she loves okra

Sounds great! And nothing is too spicy.

 

[spike.t]

Some of the dried chikanda...when washed look similar to small potatoes, but if those were washed wouldn't last as long

 

[Probono]

I once ate a starchy food called "Amala" in south africa. it goes with some kinda soap with Okra and some goat meat. I thought it was nice.

 

[Philip Glass]

This is a general question but I am curious whether a lot of the food in Africa are spicy? Just wondering because it seems like most people i know here in the U.S of A seem to put hot sauce in almost everything. I had Ethiopian and Uganda food before but they aren't really spicy, at least the ones I tried.

Share your experience and some pictures would be appreciated.

In Southern Africa you will not likely find very spicy foods. Most of our RSA and Namibian visitors to Texas worry that our TexMex food will be too spicy for them!

 

[Ryan]

In my travels in Namibia and South Africa I'd say the food wasn't hot, but it was spicy. Lots of different dishes used lots of spices, many different from what I use in the States. I can't say I used coriander much in the states, but it's used a lot on most of the biltong I ate in Suth Africa. I was also introduced to Nando's PERi-PERi sauces in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, which I understand is actually more from Mozambique. You can now get it in the states and I have a couple bottles on my table. So spicy hot food is part of the culture in certain regions. It's all going to vary by the region, their cultures, and their history of trade and agriculture.

 

[shark_za]

You will be eating food at game lodges that can be inspired by local food, not likely to get the actual food locals are eating. If anything you will get what the lodge owner considers traditional food.
Along the coastal areas of Southern Africa there are Indian curries and peri-peri based Portuguese/Mozambican food that will suit the chilli heads, this often creeps into game lodge chefs menus.
In the big cities you can find any cuisine you want, from Mexican to Ethiopian to Turkish.

 

[Just Gina]

I have not ever had anything spicy or in the same zip code of spicy when in SA and in Zim. When in Zim
I was even given a dish of these tiny peppers that were supposed to "set my mouth on fire". I ate one plain and diced the rest and used them as I would normally use black pepper on my food.
I do not have pics of food I had but I eat mainly salad and veggies. (food allergies)

 

[spike.t]

Louise cooking mopane worms ...dried then soaking in hot water to rehydrate , then deep fry so crispy...can add chillies or tomato and onion for a sauce..but mostly eaten straight as a crispy snack...in her words yummy...me I would say an acquired taste....

 

[Probono]

I have had Mopane worms before but roasted, They are really good.
Aww this bring back so many campfire memories.

 

[spike.t]

Prefer flying termites when they appear in the rains...cooked on a hot plate...sort of oily peanut flavour to me anyway