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As a young boy, he sat on pillows in his South Carolina home, prepping ingredients and learning about the culinary traditions of his Gullah Geechee relatives. As a highly respected international chef, Alexander Smalls devotes his talents to teaching the world about the extraordinary food coming out of Africa.
His new cookbook, “The Contemporary African Kitchen,” represents his decades-long journey into African cooking. “The book is a love letter to Africa. This, my fourth cookbook, is absolutely the highlight of my life. This is who I am at my core, being a culinary activist for the foodways of African people,” says Smalls.
The James Beard award-winning author curated the nearly 300-page book released by Phaidon Press Inc. on October 15. “The Contemporary African Kitchen: Home Cooking Recipes from the Leading Chefs of Africa” is a treasure chest of extensive knowledge, engaging storytelling, and exciting recipes. Smalls provided profound insights in his forward, introduction and commentaries.
“What I represent in this book is the contemporary expression of leading African chefs who are taking it upon themselves to re-express and rewrite their culinary traditions. They take those traditional ingredients and apply contemporary techniques and flavor palates to really excite some of the most interesting, innovative dishes you can imagine,” indicates the renowned New York City culinary innovator.
Gullah Geechee Path to The Contemporary African Kitchen
Smalls grew up in his mother’s hometown of Spartanburg, South Carolina. His Gullah Geechee roots, however, run deep through his father’s birthplace on Johns Island to summers spent in Charleston and Beaufort. His grandfather was born in Charleston of West African descendants whose cultural traditions and language survived slavery on the coastal islands of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.
“If you know anything about Gullah Geechee people, their food determines who they are no matter where they live. I can tell you none of my friends were eating what we were eating at my house,” Smalls recalls with a laugh.
“I would cook alongside my mom. It was the most rewarding and gratifying experience. I learned at a very early age that the person who wielded the wooden spoon had the power. It was an extraordinary power and gift, and I always wanted it for myself.”
Once he began to explore his Black culinary heritage, Smalls pioneered a new approach to presenting the food of his ancestors. “My first three restaurants in NYC were based on Gullah and Geechee Lowcountry cooking. Opening the first restaurant that translated soul food through the lens of fine dining created a whole new way for African American restaurants to express themselves,” Smalls declares.
The “Southern Revival” cooking the restaurateur introduced at Café Beulah in 1994 eventually led Smalls on a 10-year journey of discovery. “I traveled extensively throughout Africa, Asia and South America, exploring the footprint of enslaved people on five continents to understand who we were through the lens of our food,” says the culinary activist for African cooking.
In 2013, Smalls and former Times Warner and Citicorp CEO Richard Parsons opened The Cecil and Minton’s jazz club in Harlem. The South Carolina native was the executive chef when Esquire named The Cecil “Best New Restaurant in America” in 2014. Chef JJ Johnson took over that role a few years later.
Smalls and Johnson co-authored the 2018 best seller, “Between Harlem and Heaven: Afro-Asian American Cooking for Big Nights, Weeknights, and Every Day,” winner of the James Beard Award for Best American Cookbook.
Smalls followed those accomplishments with a daring leap into a new venture at Expo 2020. The food hall called Alkebulan introduced 12 culinary concepts in a 22,000-square-foot space dedicated to African cooking and celebrating the food of Africa and the diaspora.
“I got the opportunity to open the first African dining hall in the world in Dubai,” says Smalls. “It was the foundation for The Contemporary African Kitchen. The work I have done over the last 40 or more years has been the foundation for where we are now.”
Building a Tribe for The Contemporary African Kitchen
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the New Yorker began extensive preparation for building a tribe of culinary contributors and influencers living and working in African countries. “We tried to have some representation from North, South, East, West and Central Africa. Then we built a roster of chefs that were available to us and could express their culinary output as a part of this tribe,” explains the author of “The Contemporary African Kitchen” cookbook.
Smalls details how he and his co-author, Nina Oduro, devoted countless hours to research, discussions, and analysis to select the 33 people who contributed stories, recipes, cooking tips and essays to the book.
“Nina came on board like a ball of fire, rolled up her sleeves and jumped into all of it with me. Imagine over 30 chefs on Zoom calls, in different time zones, in different languages and all kinds of network madness. It was hard.”
As the “Contemporary African Kitchen’s” project manager, Oduro understood Smalls’ determination to give African culinarians the attention they deserve. “It was essential to ensure that Africans not only spoke for themselves but had agency in representing their creations. As an inclusion strategist and co-founder of Dine Diaspora, this is at the heart of everything I do,” says Oduro.
Dine Diaspora’s CEO also comments on giving the chefs, cooks, food specialists and writers free rein. “For this book, each contributor had the freedom to present their recipes in their unique style. We didn’t impose rigid definitions of what an ‘African dish’ should be. Rather, we asked them to define that for themselves and share it with the world,” Oduro emphasizes.
“The Contemporary African Kitchen’s” co-authors applied their own criteria to the selection process. They pulled from their network of contacts, online resources and recommendation requests to find Africans and African Americans who best represented their vision for the cookbook. They chose 33 contributors.
“We were looking for talent. We were looking for leaders in the culinary field who really are making a difference. And it always helps to have a good story,” says Smalls. “We were also looking for people pushing the envelope and have made it their mission to keep customs alive or to realize who they are and where they came from through their culinary expression.”
Exploring The Contemporary African Kitchen
The curator of African food history and culture advises home cooks to begin exploring “The Contemporary African Kitchen” with an open mind free of assumptions, stereotypes and prejudices.
First, they should recognize that Africa is not one country. It is the world’s second-largest continent, with 54 sovereign nations, two independent states and some territories. Readers should also consider the impact of colonization on African cooking.
“You have Senegal, for example, which has some of the most extraordinary food, influenced by French culinary expressions, accents and foodways. And you have Nigeria and Ghana, whose food tends to come from the English expression. Oddly enough, Nigeria and Ghana probably influenced English food more than English food influenced them,” Smalls maintains.
The culinary pioneer goes on to convey how the true nomadic nature of African people means that their individual foods, cooking, and culture crossed the borders drawn up by Europeans. Consequently, Smalls and Oduro had to figure out where to place some chefs and dishes connected to more than one African country.
The most critical factor in comprehending views of African cooking and African food culture on every continent is the racism that has clouded perceptions. “As a young opera singer, one of the things I discovered as I traveled the world and ate at fine restaurants was that we, as African people, were not in the conversation. Our food was labeled comfort food, ‘Oh, so good, heart attack food, finger-licking,’ and all kinds of craziness,” Smalls laments.
Fortunately, in recent years, the veil of racism surrounding the food cooked by Africans and other Black people across the globe has lifted. Just as Smalls’ visionary restaurants gained a new respect for African American heritage cooking, recognition for the talents of African chefs is on the rise.
Smalls defines the change as opportunity finally catching up with the brilliance of African cooking. “Now you have personalities and creatives that are telling their stories. You have real culinary technicians who have been schooled, and they are bringing those skills back to their villages, to their origins and beginnings. They are applying global cooking techniques to their local fare. That raises the game every time.”
For example, Smalls mentions Paris-born Mory Sacko, a Michelin-starred chef of Senegalese and Malian descent. Time featured Sacko on the magazine’s cover for the 2023 feature on “Next Generation Leaders.” His multicultural cooking is shifting the expectations of fine dining in France.
Co-author Oduro expresses the evolution of diaspora dining this way: “This book cements that African food is incredibly diverse and constantly evolving – a much-needed perspective in the culinary world. It pays homage to the traditions of ancestors while blossoming with innovative perspectives. The culinarians skillfully navigate the intersection of past, present, and future, offering dishes that honor their roots while boldly pushing it forward.”
Discovering New and Familiar Flavors in African Cooking
Turning the pages of “The Contemporary African Kitchen” opens a portal to 120 recipes from Egypt, Kenya, Cameroon, South Africa, Zambia, Ghana, Senegal, Nigeria and other African nations. The dazzling photos introduce home cooks to vibrant classics and exciting innovations.
They can prepare grilled meats from the North, curries from the East, seafood from the South, chicken yassi from the West or peanut stew from Central Africa.
Smalls expands on the hardy feast that awaits the cookbook’s explorers. “African food is full-bodied and full-flavored. It is innovative. It speaks to the culture but has risen to more contemporary concepts. There is a lot of grilling. There is a lot of what we call barbecue,” says the South Carolina native.
“There’s also, depending on the region where people eat, either grilled or fried fish. There are lots of rice dishes.”
Some ingredients, spices and cooking traditions will be new to home cooks. Others, like the banana pudding recipe, will seem familiar. “It’s called cookie banana pudding. It’s from Ethiopia. It’s kind of made like a parfait. You wouldn’t expect to see that because, as far as we are concerned, that belongs to African Americans. But there it is,” Smalls marvels.
The legendary restaurateur did not include any of his recipes in the book. Instead, he and Oduro focused on “Contemporary African Kitchen” contributors who live on the continent. They include exceptional culinarians such as Agatha Achindu, Akram Cherif, Mohamed Kamal, Joseph Odoom, Sifo Sinoyolo, Sophia Teshome and Rubia Zablon.
Others like Eric Adjepong and Pierre Thiam are celebrity chefs in the U.S. who have increased respect for African cooking on the world’s stage. The recipes and writings of these culinary creators take readers into the heart of the African kitchen today.
Oduro, co-founder of Black Women in Food, acknowledges how much the cookbook’s creation was a personal journey of discovery. “With Africa’s vast, diverse people, cultures, and culinary traditions, I found myself continuously learning about techniques, ingredients, and traditions. One came from Zambian contributor Mwaka Mwiimbu, who generously shared her family’s deep-rooted traditions, including her recipe for chibwantu—a traditional maize and root drink cherished by the Tonga people of Zambia.”
That is precisely what Smalls hopes “The Contemporary African Kitchen” will become for home cooks inspired by discovering African cooking through new and familiar flavors. “I want them to go on a culinary journey. I want them to understand that whatever prejudice or uncomfortable feelings that they bring to the idea of African food will be dispelled. They will see more familiarity than not,” says the book’s curator.
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Going Global with African Cooking and Alkebulan
Smalls views the evolution of African cooking as extraordinary and not something food lovers and critics should think of as a passing fad.
“It’s the oldest culture on the planet, and you’re treating it like a fador a new thing.People would be astonished to know how many African chefs populate the globe and are doing some of the most extraordinary work. Some of it is in restaurants that are not even African cuisine,” he argues.
Oduro agrees. “Their creations make it clear: African food isn’t just part of history—it’s an undeniable force in the culinary world right now.” As co-authors, their shared ideology about African cooking made the exhaustive work on “The Contemporary African Kitchen” a fulfilling collaboration.
“It was a dream come true. I’ve been readying myself for this since I was a young boy. I have had the opportunity to set the table and serve my plate in an abundant and varied way that mirrors the African culinary intention throughout the globe,” Smalls states.
Dine Diaspora’s CEO also shares her thoughts on the rewards of their partnership. “Working alongside him and the diverse culinarians was energizing. It allowed me to build deeper, more meaningful connections with people I’ve admired from afar for years – bonds that are truly necessary as we all champion African cuisine globally,” says Oduro.
She and Smalls want to continue the conversation about modern African cooking professionally and personally. They envision people connecting to “The Contemporary African Kitchen’s” bounty of insightful information and delicious food at the dinner table.
“I’m looking forward to dinner parties with these recipes. I can’t wait to create a menu with diverse dishes from various African regions,” adds Oduro. “A menu I’m excited to do is Egypt’s Land of Gold (vermicelli) by Mohamed Kamal, South Africa’s Okra Stew by Mogau Seshoene, and Zimbabwe’s Meat and Greens Stir-Fry by Kudakwashe Makoni.”
With a children’s book coming out in January and plans to open Alkebulan dining halls in New York, London and on the African continent, Smalls’ plate is full. Still, he can’t wait to serve another pot of African delights.
“I want African dinner parties happening all over town. Baby, come on!” Smalls exclaims. “Can you imagine getting a group of friends together? Everybody has the book, and everybody makes a pot? Let the familiarity begin, the comfort and the excitement. I want people to be excited. I really do.”
Stay connected to the world of African cooking with Alexander Smalls at @asmalls777 on Instagram. You can also follow Nina Oduro at @ninaoduro on social media.
