A (very) brief exploration into why food is commonly used for symbolism in modern-day religions by Sabrina Medora
It's time to fend for yourself in the kitchen, do you have what it takes? Well, if you're not confident yet, check out these 13 Cooking No-Nos To Avoid...
This Caribbean style lamb fried rice is so delicious, fragrant and made with the right balance of seasoning and flavours. Bite sized pieces of meat are seared until tender and tossed with brown rice and vegetables.
What is Black food? Learn about the foodways and culinary history of Black Americans. In addition, snag book, podcast, travel, and restaurant recommendations to learn more about Black food and some of the best Black-owned restaurants in the US.
The Experience: A two-hour initiation into the art of cooking Nigerian cuisine, including favorites like chin chin, stews and puff puff The Location: SOMA The Vibes: Cozy, earthy, educational, inviting Good for: Alone, dates, small groups When-To-Go: Select Thursdays; check the website for exact availabilities The $$ Factor: $43 per person The Names behind the scenes: Head chef / Owner Simileoluwa "Simi" Adebajo The 4-1-1: In addition to offering this Airbnb Experience, Eko Kitchen is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings. It’s closed during the week but offers meal preps and corporate catering for companies in the city. The restaurant also occasionally hosts pop-up dinners throughout the Bay Area. Transportation: The restaurant is located just a few blocks south from both the Civic Center/UN Plaza BART and the Van Ness MUNI stations I’ll Be Back…: To learn how to make jollof rice and chin chin next! Back in 2017, the digital travel platform Airbnb expanded its offerings, introducing a new program called Airbnb Experiences. For any given city, you can now search hundreds of activities that typically last a few hours, ranging from neighborhood walking tours to culinary classes and even photo sessions — something I booked during my latest trip to London. Earlier this month, I signed up for an Airbnb Experience right here in the Bay: a “DIY Nigerian Dinner Party Vibes” class at Eko Kitchen. For a little bit of context, Eko Kitchen is a casual, one-roomed restaurant serving up Nigerian cuisine, all to the backdrop of Afrobeats in the heart of SOMA. This modest dining spot is bathed in earthy yellows, tans and muted grays. It officially opened earlier this year and started hosting Airbnb Experiences in September. Head chef / owner Simileoluwa "Simi" Adebajo (pictured below left with me) is originally from Lagos and quit her job as a financial analyst to operate Eko Kitchen full-time. She leads her sessions in a laid-back, welcoming manner that feels like you’ve known her for years. Each "class" can have up to 10 guests. Participants get to make two to three different Nigerian dishes, learning about the ingredients and various cooking methods along the way. At the end of the night, the group sits down to feast upon all of its hard work. The menu rotates weekly, so even if you’ve previously attended, you can potentially have a different experience, the next time you go. Here’s a look at how my night went! There were only two others along with my friend and I, making for a nice intimate setting. We kicked off our session by watching everyone wash their hands — so appreciated and welcomed — before reuniting in the main dining area to divvy up responsibilities to prepare our lovely dinner of fried plantains, chicken stew with rice and puff puff. I got stuck with cutting up onions, garlic and ginger, but still made sure to sneak next to my friend, who was responsible for the plantains, as Adebajo was explaining how to properly peel and cut them, prepping them to be fried. Look at how gorgeous our plantains turned out! Perfectly golden on the outside, sweet and mushy inside. After everyone chopped, sliced and diced the veggies, marinated the meat and mixed the puff puff batter, it was time to head into the kitchen. Here, we gained hands-on experience frying the puff puff, a traditional dessert pastry made of yeast, cinnamon, flour and sugar. If I had to compare it to anything, it’s kind of similar to a beignet or donut hole. There’s a very nuanced way of scooping the batter with your hands and dropping it directly in the deep fryer, so as to have flawlessly smooth, fried spheres. Unfortunately, none of us except for Adebajo could master the technique, so we instead ended up with puff puffs that she affectionately coined “alien babies,” pictured below. Nonetheless, they were tasty no matter how they looked, so the moral of the story: don’t judge a book by its cover! The last item on our list was the chicken stew, a recipe that’s been in Adebajo’s family for generations. I learned some excellent cooking tips while helping with this dish: roast rather than boil veggies to retain their flavor, blend veggies in a blender for a puréed texture, and rub chicken down with oil as you season it to help it more easily absorb the spices. After letting the chicken marinate in our spice blend — including a spice cube called Maggi that Adebajo brought directly from Nigeria — we baked and then added it to a blended mixture of onions, ginger, garlic and peppers. We also made long grain par boiled rice, which Adebajo shared is frequently eaten in Nigeria. Now that’s what you call a stew! After almost two hours of cooking (and nibbling on plantains and puff puffs to sustain us throughout the evening), it was time to sit down and enjoy the fruits of our labor. It was all quite delicious and I can't wait to try to reinvent this in my own home. So the next time you’re in the mood to have a hands-on culinary adventure and learn more about Nigerian cuisine, I recommend checking out Eko Kitchen’s “DIY Nigerian Dinner Party Vibes” Airbnb Experience. You’ll find new friends, discover new cooking secrets and of course, eat wonderful food. See you there soon! For more information: Website, Facebook, Instagram
Welcome to Plant Based And Broke, your #1 place for affordable, accessible, plant-based recipes. Find a new favorite today!
This takes the flavour of beef up a notch.
It's way past time to diversify your Instagram feed.
We’ve put together this list of nine Black foodies you should follow for food inspiration and recipes.
Interested in doing black and white food photography that still looks appetising? Take look at these inspiration images. All with real black and white food.
An African American staple, this Smoked Turkey Collard Greens recipe creates the traditional dish in a simple way.
This AIP Beef & Broccoli Rabe dish is an easy weeknight meal that’s bursting with flavour and comes together in under 30 minutes.
This is the recipe for Cameroonian fresh corn tamales which are made by wrapping ground corn in banana leaves then steaming until done. It is vegan, requires minimal ingredients and so delicious! Though it is vegan, I love serving it with some sort of protein on the side like my perfect grilled chicken to make for a balanced meal. You could serve with any protein you prefer.
Chowhound
Kick start this New Year with 16 healthy recipes that are guaranteed to support you with your lifestyle goals. There's a Combination of breakfast, lunch, dinner and some smoothies for you to try!!
I got a tad bit stressed thinking about writing these Paris food posts! We ate so much stuff that I want to share on my blog! Rather than boring you all with several posts documenting every single morsel that I ate over the course of a week like a fitness food diary, I decided to focus on the highlights! I will keep those lowlights on the cutting room floor, which in this case just may be Instagram. Look, a good food picture must be shared even if the food was meh! Any who back to the issue at hand, here […]
Welcome to Plant Based And Broke, your #1 place for affordable, accessible, plant-based recipes. Find a new favorite today!
Food background on black stone table with fresh vegetables, herbs and spices. Ingredients for cooking with copy space.
Meal prep recipes that could work for lunch or back to school for the whole week! These recipes could serve 4 in all but I made just one lunch bowl per day for my husband since he is the only one who takes lunch to work. Then I enjoyed the rest of the food with my kids! This is great if you are looking for ideas on how to cook meals beforehand!
From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe we want to try something from every country in the globe. Browse recipes with a global influence below.
Cornbread is mixed with sautéed vegetables and stock to make this Southern side dish staple.
Kick start your morning with this delicious vegan style Caribbean breakfast recipe. It consists of scrambled tofu, steamed iron enriched leafy greens, baked sweet plantain with avocado (pear) on the side.
This AIP Charcuterie Board is more than just an appetizer. Here are all the deets for a delicious, well-balanced AIP board that's filling enough for dinner!
My family absolutely loves when I make these Santa Fe Sausage Waffled Quesadillas, and I’m not quite sure why. It could be the fact that a taco shell is now shaped like a waffle, or maybe its the fact that everyone gets a whole quesadilla that they can have all to themselves, or it simply […]
The BayHaven Food and Wine Festival and the legacy of Black food and drink spaces as both political and cultural arenas.
With this easy and versatile recipe, you can whip up a one pot meal that everyone will love.
These Taco Cupcakes with Wonton Wrappers are the perfect appetizer for you! Yummy and cute, the taco cupcakes also allow for a lot of creativity in fillings and toppings. Enjoy!
The Eats: Corso has Italian fare with Tuscan roots and a modern flare, featuring house-made pastas, house-cured salumi and nightly butcher's specials The Location: Berkeley The Vibes: Homely, intimate, inviting Good for: Alone, dates, small groups When-To-Go: Opens daily at 5 p.m.; closes at 9 p.m., Sunday – Thursday, and at 10 p.m., Friday & Saturday The $$ Factor: Appetizers, $6 - $20; Entrees, $20+; Cocktails & Wine, $4.50+ The Names behind the scenes: Executive Chef/Owner Wendy Brucker and Wine Director/Owner Roscoe Skipper The 4-1-1: Corso’s menu changes approximately every three weeks, with only the "classics" consistently remaining Parking Situation: Metered and free street parking; also a couple of blocks north of the BART Downtown Berkeley Station I’ll Be Back…: For the Tagliatte lamb & pork pasta! As a self-proclaimed foodie, it’s been on my bucket list to visit Berkeley’s legendary Gourmet Ghetto every since I moved to the Bay. Known as the alleged birthplace of California cuisine, the Gourmet Ghetto first made a name for itself in the 1960s and continued to grow in popularity, thanks to household names like Peet’s and Chez Panisse. Now, nearly five decades later, it’s still running strong, with a dozen or so restaurants huddled on or around the main Shattuck Ave. drag. They’re offering everything from Nepalese to French and Italian cuisines. Bae and I were craving Italian one chilly Saturday evening, so after what felt like an eternity of debating which one of the Gourmet Ghetto Italian restaurants to stop by, we settled on Corso. And I'm so glad that ended up being our choice! The modest two-room space was packed to the brim, but luck found us a seat at the bar that overlooks the open kitchen. Warm subtle lighting and a casual ambiance made it feel so warm and toasty and homely inside. Soaring ceilings and dark wooden fixtures added a bit character, too. We started off with the Olive Marinate (pictured below), one of the eleven different Antipasti selections. Olives come slathered in garlic, chile, lemon and other herbs. They’re a mix of colors and sizes. I was expecting something completely different — something more like a spread (my fault for not checking with the waiter!) — but was pleasantly surprised at how much flavor they had. We then opted for the Tagliatte pasta, pictured below. A thick, hearty lamb and pork tomato sauce covers delicious house-made pasta. The essence of red wine and other herbs enhances the sauce nicely. This was so, so filling and tasty. As an entrée, we selected the Spada, pictured below. Grilled swordfish is topped with a medley of olives, capers and fresh herbs. Surrounding it is almost what could be considered a stew of fava beans, tomatoes, garlic, carrots and other veggies. The swordfish was tender and you could subtly taste its grilled aroma. It went so well with the fava bean concoction, too. While we saved absolutely no room for dessert, that didn’t stop us from taking home the flourless chocolate cake with whipped cream and caramel and chocolate sauces. And let me tell you about this cake. It’s beyond belief how decadent it is! I could only handle a few bites at a time, but it would be every chocoholic’s dream dessert. No libations for us this time, but there’s a wine list and I peeped quite a few patrons with some sort of cocktail in their hands. All in all, Corso hit the spot for satisfying Italian cuisine in a no-frills ambiance. Plus, the service was noteworthy; our server had a polite, reserved disposition and one of the chefs right behind the bar frequently checked in with us to see how we were enjoying each dish. I’ll definitely be back to try out some of Corso's other classics, such as the Branzino. What about you? Have you already visited Berkeley’s Gourmet Ghetto? If so, drop your favorite restaurant in the comments section below and see you there soon! For more information: Website, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter
We caught up with the popular Brooklyn blogger to chat about her maker collaborations and what it's like to plan a dinner for 50.
Poulet DG, which means “chicken for the Director General”, is a delicious chicken and plantain dish that is usually served on special occasions in Cameroon.
Some Black voices in the food world to learn from.
I remixed the Moroccan Ras El Hanout spice blend typically used in savory dishes like curry and came up with this sweet spice mix that's amazing for sweets and desserts!
It tastes like cake but it's crunchy, rich in flavor, and so addictive. Here is your step-by-step guide on how to make Chin Chin.
Why have spinach artichoke dip when you can have spinach artichoke dip bites wrapped in a warm buttery crust?? These are perfect for Game Day!
What is konnyaku? It's a type of root that is made in to bouncy food products like shirataki noodles.
From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe we want to try something from every country in the globe. Browse recipes with a global influence below.
