In Kitchen Butterfly:
...We all sat down in an Indonesian restaurant. By some stroke of fate, I sat next to D, who is Brazilian….and as conversations pretty much around me at one point or the other end in food….., we happened upon the topic of ‘foods from home’. One mention of ‘Acaraje’ and a description followed.
Image courtesy of Kitchen Butterfly
I was shocked. That was ‘Akara’….hands down, and I said as much.
He said the African slaves brought it to Brazil and that it was especially popular in the Bahia region. Though he said African, I knew the slaves had to be Nigerian. For these the name bore a striking resemblance to our Nigerian bean cakes!
Months later, I was still pondering…..on the name, and on the captivity of souls….but also the freedom – to yield something of their own, even when captive. The power to create and change a national cuisine….spells for me abundant hope. And that’s what Acaraje has become in Brazil. Read on.
