Let's dance, let's celebrate the Congolese Rumba!
Some of us are experts at ordering what we want at the restaurant but have no prior experience in the kitchen. Indeed, subjectively speaking, just as the subtile serpent enticed Eve, "the proof of the pudding is in the tasting".
If the "Don't Mind Your Wife" chop bar in Accra offered all the known national varieties of Jollof rice on their menu, I would opt to sample all of them , starting with Senegal on Mondays but as per tradition I would reserve the Sierra Leone variety (the favourite speciality) for some special occasions such as the awujoh , party time , and on some special Sun-days...
Along with the rest of Africa and Diaspora , I congratulate Senegal and since it's origins that we're talking about , we celebrate the World Heritage recognition with them.
The "minor" turf that Professor Harrow refers to only happens to be minor because when it comes to numbers we are outnumbered by Greater Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Sene-Gambia and it's always a matter of " majority carry the vote" so if we were to put it to the vote there would be the tendency that quality takes second place to quantity ( large crowds, large mouths, big numbers, big grammar, big mouths, big lips, big cigars, big stomachs , big cemeteries
Rice happens to be the staple food of today's Sierra Leone and perhaps this is not accidental when you consider the history of Sierra Leone's Gullah People who actually took rice planting to Carolina. Sierra Leone Jollof Rice is also the poor man's delicacy , affordable ingredients - I don't know what the situation is right now since I keep on hearing that " the country has now gone to the dogs", but some of the bourgeois Sierra Leoneans of my day, the class of people usually referred to as "Anglo-Sierra Leoneans" used to import lamb / Canterbury lamb , from Australia , and their Christmas trees – bona fide firs from other far away places like Merry England , along with what could be found at Kingsway Supermarket etc. : Kippers, Bacon, Marmite, Ovaltine, Horlicks, Vimto, and of course, Johnny Walker and all kinds of tobacco products, Peter Stuyvesant, Camel, Luck Strike, 555…
i love how cornelius turns to the ENGLISH expression, proof is in the pudding, to defend his minor turf!ken
kenneth harrow
professor emeritus
dept of english
michigan state university
From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, December 17, 2021 11:56 AM
To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: JollofThis is the most ignorant article I have ever heard or read about Jollof Rice.
When it comes to Jollof Rice, Senior Fellow, Professor Jibrin Ibrahim of the Centre for Democracy and Development in Abuja should know that he is treading on very controversial turf, that the turf is political, yes, he ought to know that the national divisions of the West African cuisine is political and that whatever he says on behalf of himself or his national / ethnic/ chauvinistic preference or preferences will be hotly contested by another national / ethnic/ chauvinistic preference or preferences...
I consider his article nothing short of a provocation.
Apart from hearsay and secondary sources ( not sauces) what does Professor Jibrin Ibrahim know about Jollof Rice? Does he have any previous personal experience in the kitchen? He doesn't mention it. As the saying goes, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
When an article about Jollof Rice fails to mention SIERRA LEONE, West Africa and the world's Jollof Rice ( cooking ) CHAMPIONS , then such an article pleading guilty or not guilty to such a sinful omission is nothing but a deliberate insult and provocation and pleading ignorance is an unacceptable and insufficient excuse. As if we do not exist! Such an omission can only plead guilty to transgressing fundamental Sierra Leone Human Rights, and we demand an apology.
True, the topic has forever been mired in controversy
The Wollof people of the Senegal and the Gambia beat their chests and boast about their benachin, and say, en français, "There's nothing like the original - and that's why it's called Wollof Rice !" but the fact is, Sierra Leone is the champion. I have just sent the article to Dan Strehl ( he studied under Soyinka , at Ife and is a culinary authority ) : Controversial Jollof Rice update ( Dan's connoisseur taste buds KNOW that Sierra Leone is the CHAMPION and he can confirm the indisputable…
BTW, if it's true that " the way to a man's heart is through his stomach , then the Creole Lady is very dangerous ( I'm speaking from personal experience) by which I do not wish to diminish the kinds of danger that the Wollof and the Yoruba- Krio ladies can pose - they can threaten the stability of the sheikhs marriage – just one taste and he could be suing his other wives for divorce….
On Friday, 17 December 2021 at 14:26:15 UTC+1 jibrinibrahim891 wrote:
Jollof Rice, Ceebu Jen and the Rice War
Jibrin Ibrahim, Deepening Democracy Column, Daily Trust, 17th December 2021
Today, I am recycling my article on jollof rice published in August 2015. The occasion is the announcement by UNESCO yesterday that they have enlisted Senegalese jollof rice, called ceebu jen in Wolof on the world heritage list. Ghana and Nigeria have been involved for decades in a fratricidal war of who has the best jollof and Senegal went quietly and got the international accolade. I hold the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, personally liable for this disaster. In April 2017, he was interviewed by CNN journalist Richard Quest on who has the best jollof rice in the world. He responded to the trap question without thinking and said it was Senegal. Quest explained later that he had in mind the contest between Ghana and Nigeria and was surprised when the Minister said Senegal. Back to UNESCO, when Nigeria's information minister said Senegal's is the best, the question is settled.
Last week, the two Congos – Kinshasa and Brazzaville won their campaign to enlist Congolese rumba on the list of UNESCO's cultural heritage. Rumba, as is well known, has a transatlantic history: it originated in central Africa, was exported to Cuba by enslaved Africans who fused it with Spanish sounds, came back to Congo with a Cuban touch, and Congolese icons like Le Grande Kallé, Franco, Dr. Nico, Pepe Kallé, Papa Wenba and Koffi Olomide developed and gave it a distinctly African feel. Le Grande Kallé, the father of modern Congolese music, led the way with the big hit "Indépendance Cha Cha", which ushered in African independence.
It is Christmas and therefore a time to relish jollof. For my foreign readers, according to Course Outline - Jollof Rice 101, the food is a red, spiced rice dish loved in every city and town in West Africa. It is also called Djollof, Benachin in the Gambia and of course in its historic ground zero Senegal, it is called Ceebu Jen. It is cooked in a red, tomato-based sauce and its classic form must be peppery. Unfortunately, non-peppery versions are emerging in recent years. The most important thing about jollof is that over time, it has come to denote a state of enjoyment probably because it is a necessary part of every religious celebration, marriage or party. Jollofing has therefore entered West African English as a synonym for enjoyment.
The word itself has its origins in the Wolof (pronounced Jollof) Empire, which was a medieval West African state that ruled parts of Senegal and the Gambia from approximately 1350 to 1890. By the end of the 15th century, the Wolof states of Jolof, Kayor, Baol and Walo had become united in a federation, with Jolof as the metropolitan power. It was therefore not surprising to see such an important dish named after the 'power' – Jolof. There is a legend on the invention of Ceebu Jen, one woman from Saint Louis, Senegal. Penda Mbaye, a cook at the colonial governor's residence, is reputed to have created the dish with fish and vegetables, first using barley. Following a barley shortage, she decided to use rice, at the time still a luxury good having just arrived in Senegal by way of Asia in the 19th century. Eventually it became a favoured dish throughout Senegal and was elevated to national dish status. The rest of us then copied this great dish invented by the Djollof woman. So maybe Lai Mohammed has read his history and was simply being objective.
My good friend, Mamadou Diouf, professor of African history at Columbia University has a different legend on the origins of Jollof rice. He told me that it was invented as a nutritious dish to feed the Senegalese colonial army and that is the reason why everything – rice, vegetables, oil and fish is thrown into one big pot, to meet the exigencies of barrack cooking for large groups. Through the world wars, the recipe was popularised around the region and today we West Africans are so proud of our African culinary invention – the Jollof rice.
Original jollof rice is of course cooked in a cast iron pot over firewood and one of its characteristics is that it must burn at the bottom pot to provide the right taste. It is precisely for this reason that there was an earth-shattering event in 2014 when a British celebrity chef called Jamie Oliver dared to cook Jollof rice in his television show. There was a massive torrent of online insults against poor Jamie for destroying Jollof rice in his show. After 4,500 nasty comments and insults on what came to be known as #JollofGate, Mr. Oliver hastily removed his "fake" Oyibo Jollof rice recipe from his website and has since stayed away from experimenting with West African food. West Africans, especially those in the diaspora, were not only enraged by an Oyibo stealing their recipe, but even more by his innovation of adding coriander, parsley and a lemon wedge and just imagine, even 600 grams of cherry tomatoes on the vine, as ingredients for preparing Jollof rice. For so long, different African cultures have been appropriated without any direct benefit to Africans themselves, and people are particularly sensitive to this." Shortly after the JollofGate incident, the British supermarket chain Tesco removed its Jollof rice recipe from its website after numerous complaints. Subsequently, Tesco brought it back after the anger cooled down.
Now that we know that this invention under French colonialism in Senegal is our West African contribution to the world culinary tradition, we need to reflect a bit on what it means to our underdevelopment. For people my age who grew up before the oil boom, jollof rice, or rice for that matter, was certainly not our staple food. The food you eat depended on the staple in your zone. For us in Kano, the food we knew was "tuwo da miyan kuka". The tuwo was, of course, made of guinea corn. To my eternal shame, I can't remember when last I ate my staple. I recently called a friend who runs the best Hausa/Fulani eatery in Abuja called the "Masa Place" to request whether they could prepare my staple as a special request. She laughed as she explained to me that Hausa people no longer eat guinea corn, it's reserved for horses she explained; tuwo is now made from maize or wheat. Yes indeed, the world has changed. As children, we grew up on locally grown food staples. Meanwhile, we impose on our children the culture of eating imported food such as jollof made from Thai rice, Portuguese tomato puree and poisonous Swiss maggi cubes and become angry when Oyibo try to steal "our" Jollof rice.
We are not alone in this quandary, if that is any consolation. Over the last one hundred years, 75 percent of the world's plant genetic diversity has disappeared as humans have stopped eating local food. The world has 300,000 thousand known edible plant species and 200 of them were commonly eaten not so long ago. Today, the world eats mainly only four plants, rice, wheat, maize and potatoes. With age, I have become interested in healthy foods and the wealth we have in that regard is incredible. In expensive health shops round the world, some of our foods are revered. Acha is today regarded as one of the healthiest grains for the human race. Moringa, which the Hausa call zogale, and is considered food for the poor, is recognised by health experts as a super food extremely rich in nutrients, vitamins and anti-oxidants. Finally, the famous miyan kuka of my youth, produced from leaves of the baobab tree is also recognised today as a super food that is extremely useful in fighting malnutrition. Even more important say the experts, the baobab fruit is even richer in vitamins and anti-oxidants. My recollection from my mother is that we must never drink "tsala", light yoghurt from Fulani women because they cheat by substituting real yoghurt with baobab fruit known in Hausa as "kwalba da nono". Today I am learning that it's much more nutritious than milk. Now that we have lost the jollof war, let's all denounce imported foreign food even if we spend billions of dollars importing rice, wheat, sugar and fish into Nigeria. It is time to popularise our own local superfoods.
Professor Jibrin IbrahimSenior FellowCentre for Democracy and Development, AbujaFollow me on twitter @jibrinibrahim17--Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDial...@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialo...@googlegroups.com.To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/0fb86002-4359-4a10-b30e-77b69e5437fan%40googlegroups.com.
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/03c21c7a-0517-44ad-996f-8a4f9dec50e7n%40googlegroups.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment