Expect To See More African Foods, Thanks To Millennials And Gen Z. Here's Our Guide.

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If the furthest you've stepped out of your food comfort zone was to try a taco at your local Tex-Mex restaurant for Taco Tuesday, you might be in for a surprise sooner than you think.

According to the Specialty Food Association, millennials and generation Z are shifting America's palates towards more African, South Asian and Latin American inspired cuisine and ingredients in 2019.

Expect dishes like koshari or piri piri chicken on a menu, at your local farmer's market or designated food truck spot. Have no idea what those things are? It's OK, because we're going to get you hip to some popular African dishes.

So the next time you see these African foods on the menu or pass by an Ethiopian restaurant, you'll be an expert and know exactly what you're ordering.

Koshari
Where it's from: North Africa

This staple Egyptian dish is a carb lover's dream.

Celebrity chef Osama Elsayed said it's a complete meal because it contains everything you need – starch, protein and vegetables (if you count fried onions as a vegetable).

Koshari is a street food made with rice, pasta, lentils and topped with a tomato garlic sauce and fried onions.

"The secret to making koshari is to saute the onions and then you take the flavor of that oil and cook the lentils and the rice in that oil – you make the sauce in it as well," Elsayed said. "You garnish that with a little bit of pasta fusilli or elbow pasta and sometimes you have a salad on the side."

It's becoming street food in the United States too.

You can find it at Zaaki Food Truck in Boston, where koshari is the main draw. It was opened by Samar Abdalelah, a Saudi Arabian native who went to cooking school and opened the food truck in 2017

Ethiopian veggie platter
Where it's from: East Africa

While doro wot, a chicken stew with boiled eggs, is the dish of choice in Ethiopia, that's not the case in the United States.

Solomon Woldeabe, manager or Erta Ale Ethiopian Restaurant and Cafe in Silver Spring, Maryland, said most of his customers order the veggie platter, a heaping serving of different Ethiopian vegetarian dishes served on a platter of injera (a sponge-like bread made with teff flour, a naturally gluten-free food item).

"Whenever the mainstream comes to Ethiopian restaurant they prefer to eat veggie combo," Woldeabe said. "These days there are people becoming vegetarian or they just want more healthy food – they prefer it because it’s healthy, it’s fresh."

The veggie combo comes with shiro wot (powdered peas cooked with onions, vegetable oil, pepper and spices), misir wot (split lentils cooked with vegetable oil, onions, hot pepper and spices), kik alicha (split peas cooked with vegetable oil, green pepper, onions and spices), cabbage and a house salad.

Piri Piri Chicken
Where it's from: South Africa

If you've heard of piri piri chicken before, it might have been from the South African chain restaurant Nando's which is known for its all things piri piri (or peri peri depending on where you're from) -- peri peri chicken, perinaise and many different variations of peri hot sauce.

So what exactly is piri piri chicken?

Piri piri chicken is flame-grilled chicken marinated in a hot sauce made from the piri piri pepper.

"Piri piri is a type of chili pepper that we use in Southeastern Africa and with that pepper we make a famous hot sauce called piri piri sauce," said Candido Gadaga, owner of Sabor Piri Piri in San Diego. "It is used to marinade meat and vegetables and so that’s where the famous piri piri chicken came about – grilled chicken with the piri pir hot sauce."

Gadaga said that piri piri chicken is a type of street food in Africa and it's not as formal of a meal as you'd get at Nando's, but the restaurant is taking it to the next level. Nando's has chains across the world including the United States.

Gadaga added that the pepper is something special, because he hasn't been able to duplicate the sauce with any other type of pepper.

Jollof Rice
Where it's from: West Africa

One piece of advice: Never ask which West African country makes the best jollof rice unless you want to start a heated debate.

Jollof rice is believed to have been originally from Senegal or possibly even Gambia, but Nigeria and Ghana have had an ongoing crusade about which country has the best rice.

What's in the dish that stirs up so much controversy? At the basis of it, it's just rice and tomato sauce, but Nma Jewel, a Nigerian food blogger, said there's a big difference in how jollof rice is made depending on which country is making it.

In Ghanaian jollof rice, you'll find it made with additional ingredients like carrots, green beans, corn and peas. The type of rice will vary too.

"Nigerians use a long grain rice like parboiled rice," said Jewel. "Ghanaians use mostly jasmine, but basmati as well."

Other West African nations might add seafood, meats and different kinds of vegetables too.

Jollof rice is such a prominent dish in West African culture that it's even made its way into the title of famous Nigerian-Americans' podcast. Luvvie Ajayi, author of "I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual," and Yvonne Orji, who stars on "Insecure," have a podcast titled "Jesus and Jollof."

By Rasha Ali
December 19, 2018
Source: USATODAY.com