West African Heritage Mix

Named for Ayuba Ibn Sulayman, a Fulani noble who was captured, enslaved brought to Maryland, emancipated and sent back to his home in Futa Djallon in Guinea; and Duchess Quamino, an enslaved and later free Black woman, born in Ghana in 1739 who was an esteemed baker and cook in colonial Rhode Island. I wanted to celebrate two Black lives that represent both resistance and cultural persistence. So few lives of West and Central Africans in early America are documented and I wanted these two Ancestors to stand in for the thousands who would give rise to a nation within a nation.
Based on my travels in 8 nations in contemporary West Africa, this part of the collection is inspired by the spicy, ruddy, earthy flavors this region of Africa is known for. Think peanut-based groundnut stew or grilled suya–a type of West African kabob dish, specifically from the southern Sahel and savanna, the kind of foods that Ayuba would have known in his homeland; or the okra soups and leafy green dishes and fish or grilled seafood or corn Duchess knew in Fante land. It’s a nice addition to Jollof rice or to finish fried plantains without being overpowering.

Since the 16th century, people of African descent have shaped and defined the American palate. Their greatest impact on that palate is in the flavors we brought in our taste memory as a people in exile. Africans and their descendants, through many challenges and trials, have had an exuberant cultural expression based on taking pleasure in a culture created out of many origins; rooted in honoring ancient traditions, a dynamic sense of improvisation, and a creative fire that transformed the best and the worst in a cultural alloy unmatched." – Michael W. Twitty

Michael W. Twitty is a culinary historian and food writer from the Washington D.C. area. He blogs at Afroculinaria.com. He’s appeared on Bizarre Foods America with Andrew Zimmern, Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates and most recently Taste the Nation with Top Chef’s Padma Lakshmi. HarperCollins released Twitty’s The Cooking Gene, in 2017, tracing his ancestry through food from Africa to America and from slavery to freedom, a finalist for The Kirkus Prize and The Art of Eating Prize and a third place winner of Barnes&Noble’s Discover New Writer’s Awards in Nonfiction.

The Cooking Gene, A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South, won the 2018 James Beard Award for best writing as well as book of the year, making him the first Black author so awarded. His piece on visiting Ghana in Bon Appetit was included in Best Food Writing in 2019 and was nominated for a 2019 James Beard Award. His next book, Rice will be out with UNC press in 2021. Koshersoul, his follow up to The Cooking Gene, will be out in 2022 through HarperCollins.

Please visit thecookinggene.com and afroculinaria.com for more info.