With two West African restaurants in London winning Michelin stars this month, the region’s specialties are finally getting the recognition they deserve.
Adejoké Bakare, from Chishuru in London’s Fitzrovia, became the first black woman to win a Michelin star in the UK, and only the second in the world. She “first made her name at a supper club,” said the London Evening Standard. Chishuru is now one of the “most talked about restaurants” in the city. The other Michelin star was won by Aji Akokomi of Akoko, also in Fitzrovia, where inspectors ate “one of the most memorable meals of the year”, according to the newspaper.
A collection of cuisines that “received little recognition outside their communities in the past” are now being noticed, The Guardian said. West Africa comprises 17 countries, including Nigeria, Ghana, Gambia, Senegal, Chad and Mali, but “chefs resist defining their food according to national borders” because culinary traditions of the region “predate the imperial borders”.
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The food typically features “smokiness, heat and intensely savory umami flavors – like slow cooking onions, peppers, tomatoes and spices to form rich, concentrated bases for common dishes with almost endless variations, like Jollof rice, egusi soup. , peanut stew, skewers marinated in spicy peanut sauce and fufu.”
Award-winning menu items include “jollof rice, egusi soup (made with melon seeds) and moi moi (black-eyed pea puree)”, which have “captured Michelin’s palate and attention” , said the BBC.
According to data from Open Table, “West African cuisine represented the top trending cuisine in 2023, up 72% year-over-year,” the Food Institute said. Explaining why it has gained prominence today, Mark Haas, CEO of Helmsman Group, a US-based food and beverage consultancy, cited “a confluence of factors” and added that “globalization has shrunk our world, opening minds and mouths to diverse cultures.”
And that trend is likely to continue, Haas said. “It’s a gastronomic adventure rooted in history, cultural exchange and a shared appetite for the unknown.”
