1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List (184 page)

The seething, dusty whirl of activity and the din of hawking and bargaining begins as the market is being prepared, about three and a half hours before it opens to the public, at 8:30 a.m., and continues until early evening. Stalls display a variety of goods: household utensils, native crafts (of leather, metal, and textiles), clothing, electronics, auto parts, and livestock that might include donkeys and camels. All, however, are overshadowed by the kaleidoscopic, aromatic array of foods.

Huge, round baskets and wooden crates, carried by porters on their heads or backs, hold dazzling piles of fruits and vegetables both familiar and unknown to foreign visitors. Tomatoes, mangoes, pumpkin, spinach, collard and mustard greens, plantains, tough-looking orange corn, earthy roots such as cassava and taro, the native grain teff, football-shaped baobabs, and mounds of fresh and dried beans and seeds, all share space with a rainbow of spices. One section of the market is devoted to fish, another to dairy products, meats, and poultry, and still another to the largest and most important Ethiopian export, coffee (see
listing
). Here you can see the huge variety of coffee beans the country is noted for, and then sample some for yourself, roasted in hot pans before your eyes, ground, brewed, and sweetened with sugar (in the Italian style). When you are ready for a break from the whirling chaos, retreat to one of the cafés on the Merkato’s perimeter, where shoppers snack, gossip over coffee, and observe the bustling scene.

Where:
In the Addis Ketema area of Addis Ababa.
When:
Daily, except Sunday, from 6 a.m. to early evening.
Further information and recipes:
The Soul of a New Cuisine
by Marcus Samuelsson (2006);
lonelyplanet.com
(search addis ababa merkato).

All globetrotting meat eaters should aspire to one day sit down to a meal at the celebrated Carnivore, arguably sub-Saharan Africa’s most famous restaurant, though also one of its more touristic. Close to Wilson Airport in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, the casual, open-air Carnivore is modeled in part on Brazilian all-you-can-eat
rodízio
(see
listing
) but features the traditional Maasai style of roasting meat (
nyama choma
) by running it onto spears that are lowered into a huge charcoal pit. As rhythmic music and the lively scene put them in a celebratory mood, guests are seated on zebra-striped chairs and served the soup of the day, their appetites already whetted by the tantalizing aroma of grilling meat.

And what meats they are! On any given day, the changing menu board might list ostrich meatballs, crocodile, and camel hump, alongside leg of lamb, various sausages, and ox heart; for the less intrepid diner, Carnivore also offers simple steaks and chicken yakitori among some other offerings. The meat-stacked Maasai spears are carried to the tables, where cuts chosen by guests sizzle onto red-hot cast-iron plates in the
churrasco
manner. The meat does not stop coming until diners set a white paper flag of surrender
over their tray. Various sauces—garlic, mint, sweet-and-sour, and the Argentine green-herbed
chimichurri
—are on hand, along with surprisingly familiar side dishes like cole slaw and beans and rice, and homemade brown bread.

Desserts are similarly conventional (apple pie, cheesecake, ice cream), but a cup of world-class Kenyan coffee makes for a restorative finish. Fanciful tropical-fruit cocktails and international beers are among the other beverages on hand, as are an impressive number of South African wines. Not served, thankfully, is the cattle blood and milk cocktail that is a mainstay of the elegant, nomadic Maasai, famous for their speed and skill as hunters and warriors.

Where:
In Nairobi, Kenya
, Carnivore, tel 254/733-611-608,
tamarind.co.ke/carnivore
;
in Johannesburg, South Africa
, Carnivore Johannesburg, 27/11-950-6000,
recreationafrica.co.za/carnivore
.

Conjuring up a flavor that is at once sunny and nutty, delicate yet satisfying, airy yet ripely rich, is a task worthy of the finest chefs—but that irresistible combination is one that occurs naturally in the tiny oval that is
Sesamum indicum
, the sesame seed. Native to Africa, sesame is an annual herb whose small seeds (which may be white, yellow, brown, or black, depending on variety) have a sweet, almondy flavor that deepens with roasting. The seeds are also pressed to produce the intensely flavorful, rich oil that is a key ingredient in various cuisines around the world.

Legend has it that the seeds wafted out of Africa when ripe sesame pods split and the almost weightless seeds were scattered by the four winds. The splitting of the sesame pod might also have inspired the magical phrase “Open Sesame,” so well known from the story “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.” The seed probably stopped first in Egypt on its way out of Africa, about four thousand years ago, where it was given the name
sesemt.

Ancient Babylonians cultivated sesame seeds for their oil, which was a favorite in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar, and they have been central to the cuisines of the Middle East since the Biblical era. In Middle Eastern countries, sesame seeds are sprinkled on pita and other breads. They form the basis of halvah, a chewy and grainy confection made from ground sesame seeds and honey, sometimes with nuts or chocolate mixed in (see
listing
). And they’re ground into the sumptuous paste called tahini that, when combined with chickpeas and seasonings, makes the now ubiquitous dip, hummus (see
listing
).

Sesame seeds also show up frequently in Asian cooking; the oil, whether pale (made from raw seeds) or a deep golden bronze, (made from toasted seeds) is a key ingredient in China’s wide variety of stir-fries. And in Japan the seeds are a staple of the vegetarian menus of Buddhist monasteries.

They arrived in the Americas in the seventeenth century, brought over by West African slaves, and became a favorite ingredient in the American South, where they are called benne seeds, from an African word for seed. In New Orleans and Charleston, they are baked into a cookie called a benne wafer (see
listing
), and made into benne brittle and benne balls, sesame seeds bound with corn syrup and brown sugar.

No matter where or how they are eaten, sesame seeds are a healthful addition to any diet—a complete protein, they provide the full complement of amino acids and are also an excellent source of minerals and cholesterol-lowering fiber. It’s no wonder that, however they arrived, the humble little seeds are beloved in every corner of the globe.

Mail order:
Penzeys Spices, tel 800-741-7787,
penzeys.com
.
Further information and recipes:
Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone
by Deborah Madison (2007);
The Complete Asian Cookbook
by Charmaine Solomon (1976);
Mastering the Art of Southern Cooking
by Nathalie Dupree and Cynthia Graubart (2012);
The Kimchi Chronicles
by Marja Vongerichten (2011);
Cracking the Coconut
by Su-Mei Yu (2000);
Sesame Seed Greats
by Jo Franks (2012);
Welcome Table
by Jessica B. Harris (1995);
saveur.com
(search soba noodles with sesame seeds; homemade sesame seed buns; hawaiian sesame cabbage).

Sauce is the star of the dish.

Piri-piri
is the Swahili word for the red-hot bird’s-eye chile peppers, the memorable sauce made from them, and any foods they fire up—although delectably tender and buttery, the gently cooked shrimp in this dish are merely an excuse for the searing piri-piri sauce itself. (Lemon juice stirred into hot melted butter is spooned over the finished dish to ease the chiles’ sting, a task also attempted by an accompaniment of white rice, and lots of it.)

As part of what was once Portuguese-colonized Africa, Mozambique’s cuisine wound up influencing that of other colonies in Brazil and the Caribbean. There, piri-piri sauce (also known as peri-peri, pil-pil, or pilli-pilli) appears in varied forms and may include additional aromatic spices. But in Mozambique, it is virtually the national dish. Used as a marinade or for basting grilled or sautéed shrimp, prawns, or chicken, the sauce begins with the chopped, super-hot chiles (seeds are included for the brave, or eliminated for the timid), simply pureed with lemon juice, garlic, oil or melted butter, and parsley. The most demanding cooks will want to prepare their own, but bottled piri-piri, such as the Nando’s brand, holds its own among the hot sauces of the world.

Where:
In Atlanta
, 10 Degrees South, tel 404-705-8870,
10degreessouth.com
;
in Brooklyn
, Madiba, tel 718-855-9190,
madibarestaurant.com
;
in Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia
, Nando’s Peri-Peri,
nandosperiperi.com
.
Mail order:
For bottled Piri-Piri sauces,
igourmet.com
(search peri-peri);
southafricanfoodshop.com
(click Shopping, then The Taste of Peri-Peri).
Further information and recipes:
The Soul of a New Cuisine
by Marcus Samuelsson (2006);
oprah.com
(search shrimp piri piri);
hotsauce.com
(search african rhino peri peri);
epicurious.com
(search prawns peri peri).

The adventurous palate is in for a treat at the colorful, casual Africa Café, set in a charming eighteenth-century Georgian house on a historic, rejuvenated street of shops and restaurants in Cape Town. Waitresses in brightly patterned skirts and turbans serve communal bowls of the ten to fifteen preparations available for sampling from a set menu that represents many different African cuisines, including those of Ethiopia, Mozambique, Malawi, and Kenya, as well as the South African cultures of the Zulu, the Ndebele, and the Xhosa.

The varying specialties might include cassava flatbread; Ethiopian
sik sik wat
, a tender beef fillet in a hot
berbere
chile sauce; East African
mchicha wa nazi
pies plumped with spinach, peanuts, and coconut cream; the spicy mixed vegetable dish that is Soweto
chakalaka
; Zanzibar bean stew; and Malawai
mbatata
, sweet potato, cheese, and
simsim
(sesame seed) balls. Ivory Coast mussels are gently simmered in a coconut sauce, and Mozambique’s
piri-piri
shrimp (see
listing
) is often available as well. From the Xhosa, who traditionally lived in the Transkei region south of Natal, come
imifino
patties, formed of spinach and the coarsely ground corn called mealie-meal. Tanzanian mango chicken and South African
ithanga
—crisp, cinnamon-scented pumpkin fritters—are among other savory-sweet choices.

Finish up with Kenyan coffee or the lightly perfumed rooibos tea brewed from the leaves of the “red bush” plant which is native to South Africa. There are also tempting fruity cocktails and a comprehensive list of much-respected South African wines. After the meal, be sure to browse the restaurant’s gift shop, with its impressive selection of local, artisanal ceramic tableware. Bowls, plates, and mugs of terra-cotta handpainted in bright African colors and motifs are both traditional and strikingly modern—a fitting remembrance for your visit.

Where:
Shortmarket St., Cape Town, tel 27/21-422-0221,
africacafe.co.za
.
Tip:
This pleasant café is geared toward tourists, so make the most of it as an easy introduction to a new cuisine.