|
|
 |
|
|
When chef returned to
Ethiopia, it opened a new chapter
March 1 2007
By Donna Pierce
Marcus Samuelsson, named Kassahun Tsegie after
his birth in an Ethiopian village two hours
north of Addis Ababa, spent the first part of
his life in an orphanage with his older sister,
Fantaye. (Their birth mother died during a
tuberculosis epidemic.) He was 3 when Swedes Ann
Marie and Lennart Samuelsson adopted the
siblings and changed their names to Marcus and
Linda.
"I had no memories of Ethiopia," he recalls.
"Always in the back of my mind I dreamed of and
yearned for the day I would visit Africa again."
But not before his Swedish grandmother inspired
him with an interest in Scandinavian cooking.
Culinary studies and European apprenticeships
broadened his scope. A stint as a chef on an
international cruise ship introduced him to
exotic port cities and foreign ingredients.
The journey to Ethiopia didn't happen until he
had made a name for himself at Aquavit, where he
was the youngest chef to earn three stars in a
New York Times' review. In 1999, New Orleans
Times-Picayune columnist Lolis Eric Elie
accompanied him on his visit and, the following
year, Elie's article about the journey appeared
in Gourmet magazine -- with a foretaste of the
book to follow six years later.
The title? The Soul of a New Cuisine: A
Discovery of the Foods and Flavors of Africa
(Wiley, $40).
At the time, Samuelsson says, he knew more about
European ingredients and cooking techniques than
about African food or recipes. But he was
determined to learn more about his heritage by
way of a route he knew best: recipes. Because
many of the recipes he sought had been passed
down through oral tradition, there was no time
to waste.
He asked questions, spent time breaking bread
with strangers, shopping in local outdoor
markets, discussing the day's catch with
fishermen.
Samuelsson's book points to slow-cooked dishes
infused with spicy peppers and ingredients such
as couscous, cassava, okra, plantains, rice,
yams and sweet potatoes as characteristics of
many African dishes in a diverse continent.
"Couscous followed me from Morocco to Senegal,
Ghana, Kenya and The Cameroon," he writes. "Pap,
grits and polenta are similar dishes made with
cornmeal."
A handful of dishes included in the book
traveled farther than most. Samuelsson includes
several recipes that crossed the Atlantic Ocean
as a result of the slave trade -- the African
Diaspora.
"West African food took on a life of its own
when it was transplanted to the United States,
evolving into the soul food you find all over
the country today," he writes in the
introduction to a corn bread recipe made with
yeast and hot peppers.
Samuelsson also includes recipes for callaloo
from Trinidad, Caribbean jerk chicken, North
American fried chicken, barbecued ribs and grits
as dishes illustrating strong West African ties.
The sheer abundance of ingredients and flavors
is overwhelming, but Samuelsson does not want
home cooks to feel intimidated.
"I'm not expecting people to read this book and
then suddenly begin cooking full-African meals.
Pick and choose. I divided them into categories
instead of regions to help you easily slip
African dishes into your menus," he says. "A
dish like pomegranate rice would be perfect
served with a broiled chicken breast or chop
instead of pasta."
It's next to a recipe for pickled cabbage, a
dish he created combining Napa cabbage with
North African harissa, a fiery North African
paste. A recipe for Zanzibari "pizzas" follows
Cape Town samosas, a few pages away from egg
sandwiches from Dakar.
"I wanted to begin making it possible for people
to ease into regional African dishes the way
they feel comfortable cooking dishes from
Thailand or France," Samuelsson says.
"But it's just a start. It's time for African
cuisine to be appreciated, understood and cooked
in this country, the way European and Asian food
is appreciated. In fact, it's long overdue," he
says.
The project that began as a way of understanding
his ties to Africa became personal when he met
his biological father in the village Samuelsson
had left as a 3-year-old. His father, Tsegie
(only last names are used for elders) is a
priest, a farmer and a father to eight children,
who are Samuelsson's half-siblings.
"Discovering this ready-made family in the
Ethiopian highlands completely personalized
Africa for me and reopened old questions of what
my life might have been if that twist of fate
hadn't sent me to Sweden," Samuelsson writes.
"But one thing I know, this book has made a big
difference in my life. After learning so many
things about Africa firsthand ... I'm a better
chef because of my research, because of this
book," he says. "I'm a curious person. I have a
lot more to learn. And that's what I want to do
... inspire people to learn more."
Samuelsson is donating 20 percent of author
royalties for the book to the U.S. Fund for
UNICEF and its charitable programs.
The Chicago Tribune is a Tribune Co. newspaper.
|
- To Submit Information Click Here -
|
|
