AphroChic Magazine: Issue No. 8

Food
The culinary mind behind
some of New York’s most celebrated
restaurants including
its first Afro-Asian fusion
spot, The Cecil, Chef Smalls
is the author of several books
exploring the history hidden in
the food of the African Diaspora.
This year he’s breaking new
ground again as the curator of
the first ever African Dining
Hall fittingly titled, Alkebulan,
being presented as part of Expo
2020 Dubai. This 6-month-long
world’s fair-style exhibition,
which began in October and will
run until March 2022, brings
together the best the world has to
offer in business, science, technology,
art, and food with the
concept of Connecting Minds,
Creating the Future, and built
around the mantra Opportunity,
Mobility and Sustainability.
Alkebulan is one of the
ancient names of the African
continent, perhaps the only
surviving term to be indigenous
to the land and its people. Alternately
translated as “Mother of
Mankind” or “Garden of Eden,”
it’s unclear if other terms may
have existed among the continent’s
many languages. However,
Alkebulan was widely used in the
north and has been connected to
the Ethiopians, Moors (Almoravids
/ Almohades) Nubians and
Carthaginians, among others. In
its current iteration, Alkebulan
is a dining hall the likes of which
has never been seen, pulling
from many of the continent’s
major food traditions as seen
through the eyes of those who
are leading its culinary renaissance.
“It’s really about raising
the profile, and bringing into
the light of day, the gifts of
African food,” Smalls says of the
endeavor. “I brought in some
of the top chefs who are really
making a name for themselves,
but also leading the conversation
around the evolution / revolution
of the new Africa table.”
The result is 22,000 square
feet of unimaginable culinary
delights. Among the leaders
of this exciting new school are
Joburg-based Congolese chef,
Coco Reinartz, Senegalese
pastry chef Mame Sow, Kenyan
celebrity chef, Kiran Jethwa and
French-Congolese, Afro-Vegan
chef Glory Kabe. The complete
hall boasts 10 original concepts,
3 of which were created by Chef
Smalls himself. The fortuitous
outcome of some skillful pivoting
after a collection of misfortunes
brought on by the COVID-19
pandemic, the Alkebulan dining
hall is that rarest of happenings:
the right thing in the right place
at the right time — an unprecedented
opportunity to showcase
Africa’s culinary culture on a
world stage. For Chef Smalls, it’s
the next step in a journey that he
started a long time ago.
“After my first restaurant
I understood that, more
than a chef / restaurateur, I
was an activist,” he reflects.
“The point was elevating and
expanding the narrative of
the art and food of the African
Diaspora.” In bringing together
so many parts of the continent
and the new visions that are
putting them back in conversation
with food culture in the
rest of the world, Chef Smalls is
continuing the story he began
with his book, Between Harlem
and Heaven — that not only did
Africa never leave these conversations,
it’s been there from
the start. “Through slavery,”
he says. “Africa is the foundation
of cooking and hospitality
on five continents. Since then,
institutional racism has really
oppressed us, our products and
our value.” The stories told in the
concept and menus of Alkebulan
are an important step towards
correcting that narrative.
Food isn’t the only way to
tell our story, so the experience of
Alkebulan doesn’t stop at the table.
Accompanying it’s food offerings
are the art of Nigerian textile
designer Nike Davies-Okundaye,
Ghanaian sculptor and
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