It’s Welcome Week in America!
The Welcome Project teamed up this month with Cincinnati Compass and Cincinnati State to bring this unique farm to table event to life. The September event was part of Welcoming Week, a week of unity and connection building organized by Welcoming America. Welcoming America “provides the roadmap and support places need to become more inclusive toward immigrants and all residents”. The community was invited to learn and experience how immigrants impact Cincinnati’s food economy.
Cincinnati Compass co-hosted this event. They are an important organization in the city. A quick summary of who they are and what they do: “Cincinnati Compass connects immigrants, refugees, and international talent to regional resources and opportunities. We cultivate a more welcoming environment by improving knowledge and attitudes towards newcomers and advance economic and cultural inclusion to enhance the overall vibrancy and economic growth of the region”.
Madeline Ndambakuwa and Rose Che made use of the awesome demonstration auditorium at Cincinnati State to demo their dishes for the crowd, while Gary Leybman served his tasty Belarus’ Borscht Soup upstairs. Gary owns the Pickled Pig with his wife Libby so you can enjoy some of his cuisine there if you missed the event!
Gary Leybman, co-owner of the Pickled Pig in Walnut Hills
Madeline captivated the audience with stories of customs from her homeland of Zimbabwe during her cooking demo of her “Grandma’s peanut butter squash” recipe. With the aroma of warm peanut butter heating up on the stove, she took us back to a scene of cooking around the fire in Africa. She says the fire is a place of learning, for girls especially. Here, Grandma would pass down the oral traditions of the family while she cooked. There were no measuring cups or cookbooks – the girls learned by watching. Madeline says that now, she is trying to write down the recipes so they can be shared with others, here, for example.
In contrast to America, where we often use the phrase “It takes a village to raise a child”, Madeline muses, in Africa, it takes a grandmother to raise a child. Mothers would often receive land from her son-in-law and his family when their daughter was married, and they grew lots of peanuts. This is why, she says, many African recipes contain peanut butter. Before she gave samples of her creamy peanut butter squash, she left the group with a few tips for choosing the right squash:
The more orange – the more rich and creamy the squash will be The heavier the squash – the better.
Madeline Ndambakuwa: cook, artist, public speaking teacher at U.C. and Cincinnati State
Madeline during the cooking demo
Madeline Ndambakuwa’s recipe: Grandma’s peanut butter squash
Rose Che told us during the demo of her coconut joloffe rice, that she’ll be finishing up her program at the FreshLo Chef Fellowship soon. Hopefully this means Cincinnatians will be able to buy this dish locally soon! Rose enjoys sharing food inspired from her homeland of Cameroon. She uses beef shank in her joloffe rice and says the secret is well seasoned meat. Boil the meat with all the spices to really bring out the flavor. Another flavor booster – use the stock from cooking the meat for the rice. Rose added bell peppers, green beans, parsley, ginger, celery, shallots, carrots, red and white onions (and probably more!) to her rice dish. She also uses coconut milk. Her tip for buying a fresh coconut is to be sure to find a well-ripened one for the most flavor. It’s no surprise a lined formed as soon as her rice dish was ready!
Rose Che is part of the FreshLo Chef Fellowship program at the Center for Great Neighborhoods in Covington
Rose Che’s Coconut Joloffe Rice
Madeline and Rose
A neighbor enjoys some food
Volunteers serve food to guests
Thanks for all those who made it! Thanks to Gary, Madeline, Rose, Jeffrey, all of our volunteers, and special thanks to Karen Boyhen for providing wonderful illustrations and design for this event.
Photo credit: LeAnn Gardner