“Food is such an important aspect of our lives because it touches everything, it is the tie that binds,” says culinary artist Selassie Atadika, who we meet after her inspiring multisensory presentation at Design Indaba 2020. The Ghana-born, US-raised talent has always understood the emotional and social importance of mealtimes due to her diaspora upbringing. “One of the main ways we remained connected with our culture was through food,” she recalls. “We ate out twice a year and the rest of the time we ate home food. It was a big part of growing up and I wanted to share that with the rest of the world."

She initially studied geography at Columbia University in NYC and then spent a decade working for the United Nations in International Development. Posted all over the world, it was being back on the continent that reignited her passion for food and inspired her own take on contemporary African cuisine. She decided to retrain and went on to co-found Trio Toque, Dakar’s first nomadic restaurant. She followed this up with Midunu in Accra. Meaning ‘Let us eat’ in Ewe, Midunu celebrates the idea of communal eating through its bespoke dining experiences.

"Historically it's something we do and there are still lots of cultures where there is a shared plate and everyone sits around it and eats together, like Senegal and Ethiopia,” she reflects. “But I noticed that in Ghana’s urban areas we don't do communal dining as much. The beautiful thing about my dinners is seeing people sharing cards and phone numbers at the end of the night. People let down their guard and have a moment where the food brings them together.”

This celebrated chef’s ideas go beyond tasting menus and networking however. When she is designing a dish, her approach sits at the intersection of politics, economics and social science. “For me, it's always about underutilised ingredients, climate considerations and cultural context and then the flavours come in later,” she explains. “It begins with the ingredients that I want to work with and how they will work for the environment, community and economy – that’s how I choose what to focus on to create a dish with."

This passion and purpose came across on the Design Indaba stage as she spoke of the importance of shifting to locally grown grains and sustainable production methods. “In 2018 we spent U$1.1 billion on the importation of rice to Africa. What would it look like if we put that money into infrastructure to produce better rice and other crops to balance the soil? And that same figure is what’s required to fix the electricity problem in the whole continent. So food has power, what we eat and what we grow has an impact.”

Atadika’s superhero grain right now is millet. “It’s got so many things going for it because it grows easily throughout most of the continent and does well without needing a lot of water or fertilisation, so it's pretty low maintenance.”

Her recipes also play into traditional cooking techniques that treat meat and fish as luxuries. "It's plant forward. It's not plant based,” she explains. “It's about shifting the balance on the plate so that animal protein is more of a flavour enhancer or a garnish. We have something similar to Japan’s bonito flakes and we use a lot of smoked fish, so if you're making a beautiful bowl of stewed beans, you can use it to give extra flavour."

By developing modern Ghanaian cooking, Atadika is acting as an ambassador for her country. In fact her ideas are so revolutionary that she could have influence on food policy, but she won’t be running for office any time soon. "I have never really thought about getting into politics. For me it's always been about how we can create more resilient communities. I really want food to change the way people can live - and do live.”

Visit Selassie Atadika
Visit Miduna
Visit Design Indaba

Published on 15/04/2020