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Simply West African

Easy, Joyful Recipes for Every Kitchen: A Cookbook

Author Pierre Thiam

with Lisa Katayama

Hardcover (Paper-over-Board, no jacket)

$28.00 US

Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed | Clarkson Potter

7.78"W x 9.3"H x 0.9"D | 33 oz | 16 per carton

On sale Sep 19, 2023 | 240 Pages | 9780593578025

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Experience the vibrant cuisines of West Africa any night of the week with 80 easy, accessible recipes from a James Beard Award–winning chef.

“Chef Pierre Thiam offers an entry point into the cooking of a region that has been ignored by the mainstream food culture for way too long.”—Jessica B. Harris, culinary historian and author of High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America

A BEST COOKBOOK OF THE YEAR: Los Angeles Times, Food Network, San Francisco Chronicle, Epicurious, Smithsonian, Vice

This is West African food for every kitchen, a generous, warm welcome to its delicious, irresistible culinary mainstays and rhythms. If you already cook with ingredients like hearty greens, yams, black-eyed peas, and okra, or have enjoyed Southern staples like jambalaya and gumbo, you have tasted the deep culinary influences of this interconnected region that spans Senegal, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Nigeria, and more.

Now, in Simply West African, celebrated chef and West African cooking authority Pierre Thiam unlocks the region’s essential tastes for the everyday home cook. With helpful tips and tricks that teach readers the basics of the cuisine, Pierre shows how seamlessly these flavorful, easy-to-execute dishes can become weeknight staples or the star of your table for weekend gatherings. Introduce family and friends to:

· Familiar dishes with a distinctly West African vibe: Chicken Yassa Tacos; Saucy Shrimp and Fonio Grits; Maman’s Crispy Herb-Crusted Chicken; Blackened Salmon with Moyo Sauce
· One-pot crowd pleasers: Root Vegetable Mafe; Chicken Stew with Eggplant; Tomato, and Ginger; Braised Beef and Collard Greens
· Hearty vegetables and starchy soak-em-ups: Roasted Eggplant in Peanut Sauce; Double Coconut Rice and Peas; Smoky Black-Eyed Pea Mash

With this book, you too will fill your kitchen with the comforting, irresistible flavors and beautiful spirit of West Africa.

“Chef Pierre has a tender and intimate relationship with West African food that he shares with others generously. His passion seeps into his creations in such a way that when you take a bite of his food, that passion transfuses into you. While cooking is an art with a complex language, Chef Pierre has translated it simply in his new book, Simply West African. Now, we all get to generate that passion for ourselves. His recipe book is as welcoming as Senegal itself!”—Lupita Nyong’o

“A sprawling work of adoration for the cooking and cultures of West Africa condensed into 80 recipes that feel both accessible and penetratingly sincere. . . . The book’s wealth of information is an achievement in itself. But its greatest success lies in its constant reminders that no matter how far removed from the rest of the globe your kitchen may be, you’re never truly far from a new world of inspiration.”—Eater, “16 Best Cookbooks of Fall”

“Every American owes it to themselves to become acquainted with the cookery of those who were tasked with not only building this country but contributing mightily to its most exalted cooking—Southern cuisine. Start to understand your true American culinary history by beginning with this beautiful book.”—Sean Sherman, Oglala Lakota chef and founder of the Sioux Chef, NATIFS, Indigenous Food Lab, Owamni by the Sioux chef, and the BIPOC Foodways Alliance

“I’m honored to celebrate this new work that explores how simple it is to incorporate West African flavors into everyday home cooking as many of these components have influenced global cuisines.”—Marcus Samuelsson, chef, author, and restaurateur

“Chef Pierre beautifully presents the diaspora in totality here. Not only does he showcase its rich cuisine but he shows us that these imaginary lines that border us weren’t here that long ago. You should have this book in your repertoire.”—Kwame Onwuachi, chef, author, and restaurateur

“Pierre shows off the vibrancy of West African cuisine in an approachable way that demystifies West African spices, ingredients, and techniques to make delicious wholesome food. This book has so much heart.”—Maneet Chauhan, chef, restaurateur, author, and TV personality

“Thank you, Pierre, for sharing your generous storytelling and wonderful recipes with the world.”—Mashama Bailey, chef and cofounder of Grey Spaces

“Pierre Thiam has created a culinary language and narrative, translating his exciting cultural history into a potpourri of heritage and flavors for the modern table. This book is a gift to the world.”—Alexander Smalls, James Beard Award–winning chef, restaurateur, author, activist, and owner of Alkebulan, Dubai

“Cookbooks have been evolving to touch on a variety of subject matters like the environment, farming, and cultural authenticity. In Simply West African, Pierre fully leans into the power of food to address some of the most perplexing issues of our time—and then uses simple deliciousness to unite us through a ‘radically inclusive, perpetual cycle of joy.’ How divine!”—Michel Nischan, chef, author, and Food Equity Advocate

Chef, restaurateur, and cookbook author Pierre Thiam was raised in Dakar, Senegal. He is the executive chef of the award-winning restaurant Nok by Alara in Lagos, Nigeria and the Signature Chef of the five-star Pullman Hotel in Dakar, Senegal as well as the executive chef and co-owner of Teranga, in New York City. He lives in El Cerrito, California with his wife Lisa, their daughter Na’ia, and dog Malcolm. Lisa Katayama is a Tokyo-born writer who has been featured in Wired and The New York Times Magazine and is the author of Urawaza: Secret Everyday Tips and Tricks from Japan.

Pierre Thiam View titles by Pierre Thiam

Introduction

People used to talk about Africa as if it were a faraway place that’s hard to get to and different in every possible way from the rest of the world. Not anymore. It’s time to release these outdated stereotypes and misconceptions, because Africa is everywhere. It’s in our past, present, and future. Africa is at the root of human history. It is the place where humans first discovered fire, a necessary first step for cooking and civilization. Its rhythms are embedded in popular music, its textures and colors in contemporary art. Most important, Africa is home to the youngest population in the world: 70 percent of our people are under the age of thirty. Africa is the future! Every day, our youth create culture and design innovative solutions to the world's biggest challenges. Africa connects us more deeply with ourselves, with one another, and with our planet. Trace almost anything that humans touch backward or forward in history, and it will take you to Africa.

This book was written so that you, too, can connect to Africa, in the most delightful and intimate way I can possibly imagine—through the food you cook and eat at home. I grew up in Senegal, a breathtaking coastal country in West Africa. A lof of the food we love to eat, no matter where we are in the world, connects back to the region of my motherland. Traditional West African cuisine is among the healthiest in the world, with its lean meats, abundant vegetables, leafy greens, legumes, and hearty beans and grains prepared in ways that honor the integrity of the source ingredient while bringing out a mélange of flavor possibilities along the way.

I have now lived in the United States for more than half my life and work as a chef, entrepreneur, and activist centering my activities around West African and West African-inspired food. With this book, I will show you how you can bring the joy of West African culture into your life with great-tasting recipes that are easy enough to make at home and impressive enough to serve to royalty. You'll get a glimpse into my world, where Africa meets America, where complex flavor palates meet simple cooking techniques, where family, community, and diaspora all come together in unity and harmony.

My previous cookbooks focused on representing West African food as it exists in the motherland. This time, I bring you a lineup of recipes that shows you how easily West African cooking can be incorporated into your weekly repertoire, without compromising authenticity and deliciousness. Each of these dishes was designed so that it can be cooked in any kitchen with easy-to-source ingredients to create a mouthwatering, one-of-a-kind meal. From the sun-kissed coconut-limey palate of Brazil to the Spanish paella brought to Europe by the Moors to the sultry one-pot gumbos and stews in the American South, West African influences are truly everywhere. Even if you’ve never had West African food before, you’ll quickly experience how familiar its flavors are. Evolution and adaptation are a core part of our culture and cuisine, and you’ll see this reflected in the vast variety of tastes and preparations represented in these unique and still very characteristic West African recipes.

The recipes in this book serve as reminders of how much all humans have in common with one another. I don’t mean this in a Pollyanna-ish way. There are many very serious inequities and challenges that face our world, especially when it comes to racial, economic, and social issues. In this moment in global history, our collective moral conscience is being challenged to elevate itself. We are being reminded to honor and appreciate one another’s cultures and identities in new and evolved ways. (Appreciation is different from appropriation, which is when members of a majority group adopt cultural elements of a minority group in a disrespectful, exploitative, or stereotypical manner.)

My life’s purpose is to bring West African–inspired food to every kitchen, regardless of where in the world that kitchen might be. Through the food of my home region, I want to showcase the beauty of a culture that’s centered around community.

Where I come from, food is more than just a collection of ingredients in a bowl. The West African cook is a griot of sorts, a storyteller who connects us to our past, our present, our future—and to our environment. Every recipe is a story that transcends time and space, having been passed on by our ancestors to their children and their children and so on, and now to you, through this book. I’m so excited to welcome you to this world! When you cook the food from this book, you become part of the story, a key member of the community of people who cook and enjoy contemporary West African food at home. You will expand your horizons, tap into the innermost essence of your joy, and fill your kitchen and dining areas with some of the richest, most delectable smells, sights, sounds, and tastes you’ve experienced.