African restaurants and cultural cuisine

African Restaurants

New York is home to people from all over the world, and it is well-known that they often bring with them cuisine from their homelands. Foodies descend on food courts in subterranean malls in Queens, Russian bakeries in Brooklyn and ethnic food trucks pretty much anywhere. But for being a cosmopolitan city, with such cosmopolitan tastes, there is surprisingly little attention paid to the diversity of African food. The continent is rich in food tradition, and increasingly we are seeing these traditions manifest in the five boroughs. Several openings the past few years have dramatically altered the African dining scene in New York and this development is very much worth of coverage.

Some of the show-stoppers include Accra (opened 2013, West African), Les Ambassades (2012, West African), Tolani (2010, South African), Lalibela (2012, Ethiopian), Ponty Bistro (2012, Maghrebi), Farafina Cafe (2013, African fusion) and Le Souk Harem (2010, Maghrebi). Harlem has become an epicenter for this revival of African food in the city. Indeed, the number of African restaurants has been growing steadily over the past few years, in part due to an influx of immigrants but also due to events like the African Restaurant Week that draw curious New Yorkers to the events to sample these unique cuisines. Some restaurants, like Tolani with its South African cuisine and wines, have a strong mainstream crossover appeal, while classics like Buka have a menu heavy on the traditional and exotic.

What I want to determine in this story is what is driving this trend towards African restaurants. There has been an increase in high quality African restaurants in the city for these past few years -- where before there were only a handful there are now 2 or 3 opening each year. The fact that so many are clustered in Harlem is particularly interesting, especially in light of the broader Harlem renaissance and other quality dining establishments opening in the neighborhood (Red Rooster, etc.). I want to talk to the restaurateurs behind this African restaurant revival to get their stories, because these are sophisticated restaurants, not just mom-and-pop joints in far-flung strip malls. There is a fascinating history with this cuisine in New York, as it used to be made surreptitiously in SRO hotel rooms to meet the needs of the underground laborers from West Africa who craved food from home (Sietsema, 2011).

More evidence of the power of this trend comes from New York African Restaurant Week, a bi-annual event that just completed its run, with 17 participating restaurants. The African community in New York has become quite active in promoting its heritage and culture, and this starts with food. The NY African Restaurant Week has become the centerpiece of that effort, highlighting the exception standard of African food in New York.

I propose to produce a multimedia package for the New York Times that includes the following: There will be a 1200-word story focusing on the growth of African dining in New York, the variety of options and the characters involved. There will be a video that will be between 6-8 minutes on the same subject. Unfortunately it will not come with smell-o-vision, but your audience will wish it did. There will also be still photographs of proprietors, food and patrons to illustrate not only the cuisine and characters, but the cultural context as well.