“As far back as I can remember, I knew I was different,” says Alexander Smalls. Growing up in a Gullah Geechee household in Spartanburg, North Carolina, the chef says he recognized the implication of those differences—in appearance, history, and cuisine. “I discovered early that my friends did not eat any of the foods that I ate. My foods were more akin to West Africa, you know, and very much pronounced in that way,” he says. It wan’t until he moved to New York as an adult, that he assimilated the value of that diasporic connective tissue. “Food was a big part of cultural expression and identity of the African diaspora,” he says.
Over the last three decades, the chef and restaurateur has traveled the world studying the foodways and culinary techniques of the African diaspora. Along the way, he has written award-winning books and opened several restaurants in New York, including Café Beulah, which featured South Carolina Lowcountry fare and a Southern-style bakery named Sweet Ophelia’s. When, in 2013, Smalls opened The Cecil on St. Nicholas Avenue in Harlem, an Esquire article named it the “Best New Restaurant in America,” described as thrilling and unique: “… primed and loaded with the flavors of the African diaspora … a trail of taste that moved from West Africa to India, the Caribbean to America to China, and then back again.”
It’s easy to forget that in a past life Smalls was also a Grammy- and Tony Award-winning opera singer.
Now in his third act, and after decades of giving African diaspora cuisine a voice in the global culinary scene, Smalls is going straight to the source of his inquiry. On October 15, Smalls’ latest book The Contemporary African Kitchen: Home Cooking Recipes from the Leading Chefs of Africa, which he co-wrote with Nina Oduru, a DC-based inclusion specialist and writer, hit shelves. With 120 recipes from the most relevant voices in food, the cookbook takes readers on a soaring journey across the continent—from the shores of Alexandria to the hustle and bustle of Rwanda, and the mountains of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. Featuring dishes like Mohamed Kamal’s ‘Land of Gold’ sheerya, a cherished Nubian breakfast, and Pierre Thiam’s chicken cassava leaf and peanut butter stew from Casamance in southern Senegal, the recipes are soaked in history yet contemporary in flair. Some stories that accompany them are personal: Mostafa Seif’s Egyptian okra stew reminds him of his mother’s balcony where she’d hang-dry the vegetable as her way of showing off their lushness to neighbors. Others underline the interconnectedness of history and culture, like Zein Abdullah’s chicken biryani which celebrates the prevalent Swahili culture that runs up and down the East Coast of Africa—and Arab influences on African cuisine. All of the recipes celebrate the bounty of the continent’s forests, farms, and seas. “For too long, we have devalued things that are African, not allowing them to exist in the more modern conversation around excellence,” says Smalls. This book, he hopes, will change that.