Buka nigerian resturaunt full#
Buka nigerian resturaunt series#

Enslaved African chefs also developed cooking methods for frying fish, grilling meat, stewing greens that are still used today.

Buka nigerian resturaunt full#

When West Africans were forced into slavery in the Americas during the 16th century, they planted their own gardens full of fruits and vegetables native to Africa. As farming techniques spread across West Africa, people in Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Senegal and Sierra Leone grew a variety of crops like millet and sorghum that are now staples in West African cooking. West African cuisine’s use of unaltered ingredients stems from its farming history that dates back to 3000 BCE. Since some, like locust bean, alligator peppers and calabash nutmeg are still not readily available in the United States, Afolayan imports a few ingredients straight from West Africa himself. “If you cook freshly, the taste is very different from just cooking from a can.”Īt his restaurant, he estimates that 99% of the ingredients he cooks with are completely unprocessed. “It has to be fresh tomato, fresh pepper, fresh everything,” he explains. One of Afolayan’s favorite aspects of West African cooking is how natural and fresh the ingredients are. It’s like real flavor, just like how you hear every drum in African music.”

“Beethoven is for listening, whereas African music is fun. “Do you see the difference between Beethoven and African music?” he asks. For him, the food of his homeland is like music. The 53-year-old Nigeria-born chef opened his restaurant in 2009, well before there was Tik Tok.

A staple throughout countries like Ghana and Nigeria, fufu - which means mash or mix - is a stretchy, doughy food made from boiled and pounded starch like yam, plantains or cassava.īut for Lookman Afolayan, chef and owner of BUKA in Brooklyn, New York, West African cuisine isn’t some trend to be chased. If ever there was evidence that West African food is hitting the mainstream in America, it’s the fact that fufu videos are blowing up on Tik Tok.

Buka nigerian resturaunt series#

This story is part of an ongoing series in honor of Black History Month on the diversity, roots and evolution of Black cooking and cuisine in America.