As chef who has been told that to work at a high level I have to cook French or Italian, this video hits. Thank you chef JJ for doing this. This host is pretty great as well, she gives him a platform to tell his story instead of speaking for him.
I love culinary anthropology. There's something really amazing about it being used to show how people come together to create some of the best dishes. When JJ was talking about the je ne sais quoi feeling of "home" in food, I could totally relate even if it wasn't a particular cuisine I grew up eating and eventually discovering the roots of my familial recipes in entirely different cultures.
This was such a breath of fresh air to listen to, would definitely love to hear the full version. This guy is a rarity and Michelle does a great job of letting HIM tell his story, just fantastic.
Incredibly insightful Chef! This dude seriously deserves recognition for exploring these lesser-known foodways and traditions and starting a difficult dialogue between those who made these dishes and those who consume them. He is basically breaking-down and describing the important difference between cultural celebration and appropriation by showing that there is a responsibility in serving these foods. I'm looking forward to seeing more of the Pan-African Diaspora being presented in a genuine and positive light in the near future.
Loved the maangchi episode and now this one too 😆 this is the topic of conversation that should be discussed right now when it comes to food, and I love that munchies is doing a whole series for it
Man I love them all, collard greens, swish chard, kale, wild cabbage, mustard greens, all of the choys (bok, yau, gai) , jai lan, pea shoots...I love all that shit. I try not to focus my likes on one of them because I'm on a budget and we eat whichever one is the cheapest. There are some greens that I haven't tried yet because their the ones in the Asian Grocery store that don't have a phonetic translation attached but one of these days I'mah download an app for that.
I have some questions: What are your thoughts on remaining authentic? Is there a balance between reinventing/adapting a dish rather than remaining original? Does it have to be one or the other? Is it possible to recreate while also remaining authentic? Would some people consider it disrespectful? I guess it kinda goes back to cultural appropriation vs appreciation? I'd love to know a professional's point of view.
I don’t understand how adding your own twist to something is disrespectful. People use their skills and ingredients. If an Indian cook tries making authentic Chinese food using Indian culinary techniques. It won’t really be authentic Chinese food. I’m sure it would be good, but technically not authentic. People only seem to have a problem with culture sharing when whites are involved. If you try to make some Mexican Norwegian fusion restaurant that makes smoked salmon street tacos I wouldn’t say it’s offensive just a bad combination.
Fantastic video. I remember eating at the Cecil many years back when it was still open. A great place. I have never met JJ, but you can just tell he has such a humble spirit.
Very good man! I remember the bar had this real dope gold mesh sculpture. It was a beautiful spot. Great food. It won Esquire's Best New Restaurant. I was actually very surprised when I read it'd closed down.
A video about 'Pan-African experience' should explore more of African culinary traditional ingredients and recipes. Where is 'grains of Selim'? Where is soumbala/locust beans? Where is 'grains of Paradise'? 'Periperi chicken is more of an Eastern African and Southern Africa food item than Ghanaian. You will find 'African bird eye chillies' in Ghana but it is not necessarily used for frying chicken. In Ghana you will find more soups/stews where chicken, guinea fowl, goat, beef, fish are incorporated into cuisine. JJ was in Ghana, why not mention specific foods such nkatenkwan, ampesi, ayoyo?
He had a chance to explore the connection between West Africa, the Caribbean and the American South. Instead he chose sweeping over-generalizations about all these people. It continues to perpetuate the blank narrative about African and African peoples, erasing specific identities, histories and cultural retentions. For instance, why discuss dhalpuri when he could look at Jamaican bammy, and Ghanaian abolo?
I did find him just a bit full of himself, and his dismissal of fusion was flawed. He admitted that his food isn’t authentic, it’s his take on the foods he loves and that resonate with him. Which is great. Whether you call his Afro-Japanese noodles fusion or cooking of the people of a certain place and time doesn’t really matter in that case. I’m not knocking his cooking or his talent at all; just his ability to lecture.
Very true about roti. It sadly does not get much street feed. Dosa is much harder to do because it needs to be crispy. It does not get much street cred either. Also, as with Ethnic cuisines even Italian food was seen as ethnic at one point of time. I also wish we had more authentic ethnic restaurants. When one ethnic/foreign cuisine goes to another country it is customer to the palates of foreign people and the original culture is destroyed. For instance, Italian food in America like Pizza is very different from Italy.
If anyone starts to sell Roti in packages I'll riot. Roti by a West Indian is completely different from one done by East Indian. Personally I love my WE foods too much to be partial to EI foods; and dhal puri does take a lot of time to make.
It used to be fusion, when the cultures first merged or developed their food staples/styles/etc. It's not insulting to acknowledge food cultures fusing together.
Eva, I think you validated their points. They , as people of color feel that it is so your take justifies the feeling that non-people of color dont get to make that call. We are all having to readjust whats acceptable these days..lol
Loved this. I thought the chef did a great job in communicating his heritage and his personal vision through food. On another note please don't talk shit about the cronut. Dominique Ansel is a beast and he gives out free madeleines to people waiting in his insanely long lineups.
I know you mean well but I hate the words 'Sub-Saharan African', the Sahara desert is a small piece of the African continent, how would you like it if I started to refer to you guys as Sub-Canadian Americans, why is the Sahara the line by which the African continent is measured? I hope Africans start requesting that everyone quits using the term Sub-Saharan, I also find it mildly degrading because it really is said to refer to black Africans and has the word 'Sub' in it, and black Africans have been called Sub-Human by whites for quite a long time, I know Africa as a whole, diaspora included, has a long way to go but on the road to a bright future this is something that needs to be changed.
Peri Peri sauce is NOT from Ghana, not sure where he got that. Peri Peri is from southern Africa, either Mozambique or Angola. Also, I'm annoyed that she mentioned Sri Lanka and Nepal as countries which use roti but not Pakistan. Plus roti is also popular across Southeast Asia.
Piri-Piri was transported by the Portuguese from South-America/America to Angola/Mozambique. Therefore, its origin cannot be in Ghana. Being a cook is different to being a historian, please separate the facts from fiction. This is particularly important when someone supposedly holds the origin story of food in high regard.
As a fan of many African cuisines, I think it is unhelpful to refer to "Pan-African" cuisine. That is no more accurate than "Asian Cuisine" or "European Cuisine." Cultural Appropriation in cuisine?! Don't be absurd. Corn in southern Africa or Northern Italy. Potatoes in Russia. Chile in China or India. Come on.
Is this really 'food of the people'? The techniques and skills certainly used in the presentation of his dishes doesn't, to my mind, breed the images of people cooking these dishes for their families and/or communities. Yes, the origins are but lets not pretend that you are offering grass routes dishes here.
my Caribbean food is heavily influenced my indian food. thats y its called west indian food and india is east indian food. how the fuck do u know what cuisine came from who. no history major refers to slavery at the "african diaspora" mainly cause war lords were selling slaves....the african slave trade was 2000+ old at the time. wtf are u guys talking about
There's no such thing as cultural appropriation. It's a term made up by sad, bitter people who want to keep other people out while at the same time never abiding by their own standards. It's gatekeeping, plain and simple. Anyone who divides people into distinct groups and treats them differently, is by the very dictionary definition of the word, a racist.
''no one talks about this history'' NOOOOO ITS ONLY SHOEHORNED SINCE MIDDLE SCHOOL TO EVERYONE. Deep fried clams and sauce, fusion. Laziest fusion ever
They lost me at cultural appropriation. Gtfo with that nonsense. Honor the food and its connection to where it comes from. Enough with the social justice lingo crap. FFS!
We live in a melting pot. I get understanding the history of your food but it seems like these types want to hermetically seal cultures apart from one another in a misguided attempt to keep people segregated.
There's cultural appropriation and there's cultural appreciation. One disrespects the origin and people of a thing, one celebrates those things. The key is knowing the difference. I love and cook Mexican food though I'm not Mexican, but I show mad props to my Mexican brothers and sisters while cooking and eating it! 💗🙌🏾
Lol man wtf. Every other video discussing food history doesn't even make mention of the term "cultural appropriation" but as soon as the people are black, all of a sudden, we have to talk about it. If there's ever been a concept more phony and purposefully divisive, it's Cultural Appropriation. Sharing food is the first and largest step in understanding culture. Why sully that with politics?
