The people.
Grandmothers, chefs, photographers, writers, historians. If they are named on this site, they have given us permission. If they are anonymous, they asked to be. Either way, they are the reason we exist.
Aunty Nkechi Adeyemi
Party jollof, Surulere, Lagos.
“You cannot see the rice become itself if you are interrupting it.”
Fatou Diop
The Jolof Empire. Dakar.
“The dish is Senegalese. The name is imperial. The question is whether the two can be unbraided.”
Kojo Mensah
Ghanaian basmati. Accra + Brooklyn.
“Sweetness is not a flaw. It is a Ghanaian confidence.”
Serigne Mbaye
Thieboudienne. New Orleans.
“The broken rice is the record of the empire. Do not fix what was meant to be broken.”