Tuesday, October 26, 2010

The Journey

So I went to the library last weekend to borrow books on African cuisine and the selection was varied, but the one that caught my eye was The African Cookbook by Bea Sandler. It was originally published in 1970 and it was complied for people who love to learn about African cuisine from 11 african countries: Ethiopia, Sudan, Morocco, Senegal, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zanzibar, South Africa, Liberia and Ghana. While this book is definetly one of my inspirations, I also borrowed books that highlighted menus from other african countries such as of course Nigeria, Algeria, Egypt, Mali, Senegal etc. In all I borrowed 15 books and these books will serve as my inspiration and do not that I welcome any suggestions that you guys might have to offer.

Cooking is in my blood. If you know my mother, you would know that we were born to cook as she was a home economics teacher in Nigeria for over 35 years. She inspired many children in Lagos, Nigeria to learn to love the art of cooking, and so it's quite a shock that i never cared for cooking until now. Sometimes I wonder if being one of four girls (especially being the last girl) contributed to my inital lack of interest towards cooking because everyone in my family except me of course, cooked. All i did was wash dishes (and I am the best dishwash person ever).

I remember shortly before my papa passed away, telling him and my mother that it was a shame that I didn't know how to cook. She screamed at me and called me lazy because everyone in my family cooked. I was told to never go around saying that I couldn't cook because it would tarnish her image. My papa on the other hand, promised to teach me how to cook and he insisted that his style of cooking was the best. I never got to learn how to cook from my father as he died two weeks after this conversation. But I owe this journey to his memory, for I would not be where I am if not for him.

3 comments:

  1. Cooking has always been in your blood, ehn? So you've been suppressing it. Sometines it takes an outside person to bring out the "oomph!" in us. Since you're the best dishwasher ever, can i hire you to come do my dishes??? The sad thing is that people can't eat dishes (lol)

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  2. Wow, this is so inspirational! Makes me want to pick up my cookbook and go get some groceries. Maybe I will this weekend? By the way, your Moroccan kabobs were great tonight! -Danielle ;)

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  3. I'm glad you enjoyed them, looking forward to next week...

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