Eating the African way

For those who are new to the country and who may not live in a major city or area where culturally familiar food is available, finding and preparing food may be problematic. This article seeks to explore practical ways of substituting common African foods with suitable Western alternatives.

If there is a local market or African store nearby these may sell maize meal, yams, millet, plantain, cassava and sweet potato. If you cannot find these foods, butternut squash, pumpkin, swede and parsnips are good alternatives – cook them in the same way as yam or sweet potato. You may find fufu flour in some shops but, if not, a similar food can be made from rice flour or powdered instant potato. Gari or Eba can also be made using powdered potato flakes, if you can't find cassava flour.

Most UK supermarkets sell semolina, corn meal (polenta), rice, sweet potato and tapioca (cassava flour). Sadza, ugali, nshima and banku can all be made from corn meal (polenta) but be aware that cornflour sold in UK shops is not the same as corn meal so look out for 'fine polenta'!

African fruits such as mango, guava and papaya (paw-paw) may not always be available; however, oranges, bananas and pineapple are widely available. British fruits such as apples, pears, blackberries and (in summer!) strawberries and raspberries make delicious alternatives.

Fresh or frozen spinach makes a good alternative to greens, sweet potato leaves, cassava leaves, pumpkin leaves, or rape and the UK courgette or marrow is fairly similar to cho cho. Some foods here in the UK are known by a different name - eggplant is known as aubergine, ochroes/green fingers as okra and cilantro/gilantro as coriander so keep your eye out for what looks familiar.

Fish such as tilapia and red snapper can be expensive so try cooking with pollock or coley. Oily fish such as sardines, mackerel (fresh or canned) and canned salmon are cheap varieties of fish and contain healthy Omega-3 acids – a good fat that we need for our hearts and brain.

Goat meat can be difficult to buy in the UK but beef, lamb, chicken and pork are easily found. Try to choose some lean meat and remove excess fat and skin for a healthy heart. More and more butchers and supermarkets now offer Halal meat.

Ground nuts are a good source of protein – these are sometimes called peanuts or monkey nuts in the UK so look out for peanut butter/oil in the shops rather than groundnut paste/oil.