Google’s YouTube on Tuesday said one of the best ways to learn about other cultures was through food because it brought people together and could teach a lot about their heritage.
Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, Communication Officer, Google West Africa, said in a statement that food could teach about heritage that has passed ingredients and dishes down from generation to generation.
Kola-Ogunlade said Africa offered a variety of culinary experiences that open up minds to discover the delights that the continent had to offer through food.
He said there was a round-up of some of the best YouTube channels to check out for a culinary journey of the African continent.
According to him, the YouTube channels were Taste South Africa, Taste West Africa, Taste East Africa and Taste North Africa.
He said: “Based on the cosmopolitan city of Johannesburg, Lorna Maseko is South Africa’s homegrown ballet dancer-turned celebrity chef.
“Lorna With A Pinch Of Salt, her YouTube channel, features her take on international and local foodie favorite Fancy chicken wings, Ribs, and Kota Lorna’s got you, peppering classics with a little bit of good old street food.
“In celebration of Africa Day, Lorna has also given us her take on the classic West African dish of jollof rice, giving it a uniquely South African signature.”
According to Kola-Ogunlade, if one wants to delve into the flavourful world of West African cooking, Nigeria’s Winnifred Emmanuel is the right person to turn to.
He said that on her Zeelicious Foods channel on YouTube, she gets you familiar with Nigerian favourites like puff-puff (vetkoek’s West African cuisine), dodo (sweet, ripe, fried plantain) and Nigerian meat pies.
Kola-Ogunlade said one could also make them in the comfort of one’s home watching her channel.
He said that Kenya’s Chef Ali Mandhry showcases the best of Swahili cuisine for the world to see, combining the tastiest parts of Arab, Indian and Portuguese influencers.
According to him, Chef Ali’s dishes are often accompanied by African staples like maize, plantain, cassava and sorghum, adding: “The easy Matoke ya rojo (plantain in tomato sauce) or the hearty Swahili coconut chicken with eggs is for a culinary sojourn to East Africa.”
The Communication Officer said that travelling North of the continent, Alia opened her wonderful Maghrebi culinary world up to us on her YouTube Channel, Cooking with Alia.
He said one would find a repository of both sweet and savoury mouthwatering dishes like Ghriba (traditional Moroccan cookies) and steamed lamb head Zaalouk (eggplant dip).
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that YouTube, Google’s company, launched in May, 2005, is the world’s most popular online video community allowing billions of people to discover, watch and share video.