Cuisine Noir Africa Rising - Fall 2023

Our storytelling over the last 14 years has focused on bringing global Black communities together from Africa and Europe to South and Central America, Canada and the U.S. through food and drink. As a result, our stories have strengthened and inspired others to embrace who they are in all of their Blackness and to follow their dreams. Over the last couple of years, it has always been on my mind to do an issue that genuinely centered Africa and its beauty, richness and complexities. This issue is doing just that. There is, what I like to say, a rumbling happening on the continent that for some time has been spreading an energy that is creating new stories and opportunities, especially within the area of entrepreneurship. Inside you’ll find stories with…

Passionate about cooking and entertaining, brothers Rudy and Joel Lainé embarked on a culinary journey several years ago in Paris. The brothers know their way around the kitchen as they prepare dishes rooted in their parents’ homelands—their mother is from Cameroon and their father from Guadeloupe—under their brand New Soul Food that includes two restaurants, a food truck, a food booth and a line of hibiscus-infused drinks. Rudy and Joel like to call their approach to food “Afropean,” which allows them to incorporate ingredients and cultures into dishes served on their award-winning food truck, L’Afro Truck, and at their restaurants Le Marquis (The Marquis) and La Darkanda (Dark Kitchen). A Family That Cooks Together The Lainé brothers are no strangers to the kitchen; they come from a family of chefs…

Children born with health challenges often struggle with acceptance. It was true for acclaimed chef Victoire Gouloubi (@chef_victoire) growing up in the Republic of Congo. She found herself relegated to kitchen duties during family celebrations. Gouloubi was very thin, and her family felt guests would see her, assume she was ill and feel uncomfortable. Top Chef Stardom Despite neighbors predicting she would die in infancy, Gouloubi lived, endured, moved to Italy and became a celebrated chef seen on television. She was a finalist on “Top Chef Italia” in 2017 and the first African to compete in a professional cooking competition in Italy. She also became one of the most popular contestants on 2023’s “Top Chef: World All-Stars London.” Her achievements impressed people in her homeland, including a beloved uncle. “The…

Berkley, California, resident and editor of “Go Girl: The Black Woman’s Guide to Travel and Adventure,” Elaine Lee, has traveled the world solo twice and visited 65 countries, including nine in Africa. But it was in the African countries where something started to bother her. “A lot of the African people were asking me where my people were from, and saying that I was African American didn’t seem to do the trick,” laments Lee. “So I thought, I’m going to go trace my lineage so that when I visit Africa the next time, I’ll be ready. So that’s what motivated me to research my ancestry in 2017,” Lee says. Finding Your Roots Lee had seen television ads and an Essence magazine article on AfricanAncestry.com. “I decided to go with them…

Tea, for Grammy Award-winning songwriter/singer evrYwhr, is more than just a drink to be enjoyed. “I love art form. I love creating experiences,” shares the entertainer whose name represents the source of his creative inspiration. The spoken wordsmith’s passion for tea began when he was introduced to the ceremonial aspects of Gong-Fu style tea making by K-Pop star and fellow songwriter Hyuk Shin during a business meeting. “He started to prepare the tea on this elaborate table with all types of knick-knacks,” recalls the Port Huron, Michigan, native about the variety of tools and the ritualistic steps taken to prepare the tea. “I pulled my phone out to do a video while we were in the meeting because it was just too beautiful.” But what really made evrYwhr take notice…

Chef Gina Capers-Willis calls herself a Geechee Girl. Her roots come from Daufuskie Island, South Carolina and the Gullah islands off the Georgia coast. But she grew up in Savannah at a time when she says Gullah Geechee culture wasn’t always appreciated. “Our patois language was frowned upon and thought of as broken English. But the Gullah Geechee people were living on islands isolated from the mainland, so they kept more of their African language and heritage,” she explains. “Now people are embracing the culture, but I want them to embrace it for the right reasons and to carry the traditions on authentically,” she emphasizes. And that’s become her passion and purpose. “My mother taught culinary arts and was a home economics teacher and my father was in hospitality,” she…