Food From Cape To Cairo!

Food from Cape to Cairo!

As i was doing research for my upcoming Cook Book, I came to realise that as Africans we need to embrace the diversity of our cuisine that is our continent.

Because we all come from different parts of Africa, we are so engrained in our own traditional foods that we sometimes neglect the fact that there is an array and diversity from other African Cultures in food preparation, taste and presentation with ingredients that are available in our back yards that we never pay attention to or never use.

African cuisine combines traditional fruits and vegetables, exotic game and fish from the oceans that surrounds her, and a marinade of cultures, colonies, trade routes, and history. Africa is a whole continent, from arid desert, to sub tropical wetlands, plains, and the often- featured movie "jungle." Films have given Westerners an exotic view of Africa, from the big game hunter movies of the 1950's to recent movies showing colonization such as "Out of Africa." Woven within these movies are scenes of colonial food traditions, from the British to the Dutch, glimpses of native cuisine. Western views of Africa then, even if we have not travelled there, comprise a combination of the exotic, environmental preservation, hunting, and local cultivation.

African cuisine, formerly not well known in the West, is growing in popularity as immigrants bring the dishes of their country to small family restaurants in the West. To a traveler, it would be impossible to categorize "African food" just as it would be impossible to state the cuisine of any continent by one name. If you are intrepid, and take a safari tour from Kenya, your culinary experience will be much different from eating at the French and British influenced restaurants of Johannesburg, tasting Doro Wat of Ethiopia, Portuguese inspired spices of Angola and Mozambique, or the coconut and fish stews of Nairobi. Yet, all are part of African cuisine.

Northern Muslim Africa, along the Mediterranean from Morocco to Egypt is part of the Mediterranean culinary rim. Saharan Africa is for the most part subsistence. Certain regions are distinctive for the development of indigenous cuisine, or incorporation of outside influences. These were distinctive by trade, colonization, or adaptation of imported foods, such as the New World peppers, peanuts, and corn. They are: Ethiopia, Nigeria, East and West Africa, the former Portuguese colonies of Angola and Mozambique, and South Africa. You, the adventurous traveller, are encouraged to seek out local restaurants, outside of the large tourist hotels, to savour African cuisine.

There is no Food like Real African Food

Tasty Regards

Wilbert Chaniwa – From The Food & Wine Corner

www.wilbertsfoodwinecorner.typepad.com

Get to Know Your Wines : Simplified

Wine Identification, Tasting and a Good wine are for connoisseurs a very important part of the “dining” experience. When you go out and you want to choose a good bottle of wine there are a few things that you have to know about wines before you make a decision about which wine to choose. Here are a few basics from my Food and Wine Corner
Structure - It is a broad term that refers to the proportion of tannin and alcohol, and the acidity and sweetness of wine. Good wine is that that offers a delicate balance between the above four components that together denote the structure of wine. Let us see below how the proportion of the above four components influences the structure of wine.
Sweetness - A wine can taste sweet or feel dry at the other extreme. An off-dry wine is one that is somewhere between the two extremes and is semi-sweet.
Tannins - These are used in the red variety of wine. They exist naturally in the skin of the grape fruit, in the stem, and in the seeds of grapes. A wine that has high amount of tannins is termed as astringent. One slightly less so is considered firm or hard. Yet another that contains only slight amount of tannins is termed as soft.
Acidity - There can be no wine without some acid content in it. However, the acidity of wine is a component that is of more significance in white wine than in red wine. It provides the characteristic firmness and serves as its backbone. A white wine with high acidic content is termed as crisp or even as tart. One that has lesser acid is considered soft. One that has too less acidic content is termed as flabby.
Body - This characteristic in wine is provided by the alcohol content in it. The highest content wines are termed as full-bodied and those having slightly less alcohol are known as medium bodied. Those which have even lower levels of alcohol in them are known as light-bodied wines. A full-bodied wine is as consistent as whole milk while that has the lowest alcohol content has a body similar to skim.
Aromatics - This characteristic of wine comes from the flavor associated with it. Aroma in wine can be multi-layered and complex. Some characteristic aromas are termed as burnt earthy, spicy, woody, fruity, floral, and many others. A wine's aroma can be strawberry-like or cinnamon-like or that akin to the smell of grass, asparagus, stewed, or rosemary.
Texture - This is the feel of the wine while you roll it within your mouth. It can taste of particulate matter, be smooth, complex, dry, dynamic, unripe, or weighty. It can even seem irritating or harsh. With time and age, the texture of a wine changes and acquires depth and complexity.
Color - In red wine, this is the hallmark of its age. Red wine that is new will be a deep purple and opaque. Ripening and ageing will make the color of red wine fade away to a brown or brick red color. You will find that Pinot Noir tends to be quite pale in color. Unlike red wines, white wines assume a deeper hue with age.
Hope the above information helps you to better understand the features of different wines. It will hopefully help you to better identify them from their look, flavor, and taste.

Tasty Regards
Wilbert – From the Food and Wine Corner
www.wilbertsfoodwinecorner.blogspot.com

BBQ Rules - HA HA!

We are about to enter the summer and BBQ season. Therefore it is important

to refresh your memory on the etiquette of this sublime outdoor cooking

activity, as it's the only type of cooking a 'real' man will do, probably

because there is an element of danger involved.

When a man volunteers to do the BBQ the following chain of events are put

into motion:

Routine...

(1) The woman buys the food.

(2) The woman makes the salad, prepares the vegetables, and makes dessert.

(3) The woman prepares the meat for cooking, places it on a tray along with

the necessary cooking utensils and sauces, and takes it to the man who is

lounging beside the grill - beer in hand.

Here comes the important part:

(4) THE MAN PLA CES THE MEAT ON THE GRILL.

More routine....

(5) The woman goes inside to organize the plates and cutlery.

(6) The woman comes out to tell the man that the meat is burning. He thanks

her and asks if she will bring another beer while he deals with the

situation.

Important again:

(7) THE MAN TAKES THE MEAT OFF THE GRILL AND HANDS IT TO THE WOMAN.

More routine....

(8) The woman prepares the plates, salad, bread, utensils, napkins, sauces,

and brings them to the table.

(9) After eating, the woman clears the table and does the dishes.

And most important of all:

(10) Everyone PRAISES the MAN and THANKS HIM for his cooking

efforts.

(11) The man asks the woman how she enjoyed 'her night off.' And, upon

seeing her annoyed reaction, concludes that there's just no pleasing some women......

Tasty Regards

Wilbert from the Food and Wine Corner

www.wilbertsfoodwinecorner.blogspot.com

Food Trends 2010

1. Quick Fix - Time to prepare food is still at a minimum, so a limited number of side dishes are prepared with entrees and ease of preparation is a major factor in eating at home.

2. Drive-and-Go - Takeout service at full service restaurants is growing, and the combination of STRESS with a sense of entitlement is leading consumers' drive for more upscale foods.

3. Inherently Healthy - More people are eating more fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts and yogurts.

4. Fancy - The premium foods market is projected to grow to nearly $100 billion before 2010. Wine and liqueurs are finding their way into crackers and drinks, and products for cocktails are hot.

5. Farm-Friendly - Foods deemed to be closer to the farm are capturing consumers' dollars.

6. Layered Flavors - Layering flavors is sending sales of food such as cheeses, condiments and ethnic foods soaring. Exotic fruit flavors such as starfruit, dragonfruit and Kaffir lime continue to grow.

7. Grazing - Seven million vending machines are in the U.S. with 100 million daily customers and more healthy fare to choose from. The low-carb snack category is falling, but smaller portion sizes are gaining and gourmet snack selections are strong. Health-oriented fun kid snacks will be well received.

8. Low-, No- and Reduced - With low-carb interest waning, consumers are returning to watching their fat and calorie intake. Low-fat tops the many health claims consumers now seek out.

9. Do-It-Yourself Doctoring - Shoppers are trying to manage or treat conditions through diet. Whey peptides are playing a role in Europe in beverages formulated to reduce blood pressure. IFT's new Functional Foods Expert Report details the promise bioactive components in new products can have on health.

10. Global Gangbusters - Convenience and ready-meals are accelerating worldwide. Fresh, chilled, ready-to-eat products are emerging domestically and dominate the United Kingdom, commanding 25% of the food market, excluding beverages. More flexible packaging (e.g. pouches) is appearing. A majority of Southeast Asians eat take-out at least once a week, even more than Americans.

Tasty Regards

Wilbert – From the Food and Wine Corner

Welcome to The World of Food & Wine!

Food has always been a great intrigue for me as a boy. I remember as i grew up in the 80's my mother enrolled on a cooking course with Lever Brothers (now commonly known as Unilever) in my hometown of Harare, Zimbabwe; and after enrolling on this course, she came back home with a multitude of food "tricks"and a thick volume book with recipes, and it is from that moment, after seeing what can be created with raw ingredients and your hands, combined with some creativity, that i realized that FOOD was going to be my life.

Of course, we all need food to be nourished and to survive; but to me, i have come to discover that the world of food is more of an ""experience"" rather than just a biological process!

As we go through our daily lives, we relish at the thought of our next meal and get excited, with our mouths watering at the sheer thought of what we are going to have for dinner, that is, if its anything tantalizing to the tastebuds.

As such, i feel that the FOOD ""Experience"" must always be exciting. Eating must always be something that not only nourishes the body, but creates excitement and eventual satisfaction with every meal experience.

The world has a multitude of cultures, environments, preferences and ingredients that make the food ""experience"" virtually impossible to be identical. And it is with this that as the great ones say ""Your Food Experience is like a book, and if you have experienced one culture of food, you have simply opened one page!""

Lets enjoy the journey that is FOOD!

Tasty Regards

Wilbert - From the Food & Wine Corner