Chef Kwame Afmo’s table raises the bar

Project Kenten is all about post-harvest losses; mapping the route to market for key produce seeking solutions. With Cook Off we had wanted to go beyond global staples to explore more ingredients and cooking from Africa. And then, on my journey to Accra I met Kwame Afmo and all the strands of what we have been doing and its potential came together.?

Kwame is a young chef with a vision for Ghanaian food. Raised in Abetifi in the fertile land east of Kumasi. This is where his Mother’s cooking inspired him to seek out authentic local ingredients. Then, he travelled to work in the kitchens of France - with the traditional terroir and classical dishes and many other culinary traditions across Europe.?

We had something in common – we are fans of Tony Bourdain the much lamented globe trotting Netflix bard of cuisine. Then, that extraordinary series Chef’s Table which features world class chefs in local settings foraging for ingredients and fusing recipes that will challenge as well as delight their clientele.?

Virgilio Martínez Véliz’s?Restaurant Central in Lima sums up the relentless quest of these amazing chefs featured in so many episodes with his Menu de Alturas. The restaurant acts as a?workshop for the investigation and integration of indigenous Peruvian ingredients into the restaurant's menu.?Peru is an extraordinary country with a coastline climbing to Michu Pichu and on to the heights of the Andes. The menu follows the profile offering fish “from a rock” as an opening course – crab, seaweed and clams; wonderful ceviche – that citrus and sushi blend; all told - a tasting menu that rises to the Andes with ever more variation in ingredients, preparation as taste buds climb as well as savour.?

Watching these programmes, I had wondered about something similar for Africa. Sardines and tilapia from the sea, rivers and lakes; the diversity of vegetables and fruits in savannahs; dry fruits from the desert; plaintain around the foothills of Kilimanjaro. And then, I meet Kwame and the African quest is clearly taking youthful and innovative shape.?

Listening to Kwame was to wander the landscapes of Ghana with each ingredient assigned a role in the story of food that deserves to be recognised alongside the luminaries of global cuisine. He showed me a menu he had put together the week before in London where he had showcased Ghanian ingredients and combinations of flavour. His style is fusion – European classics with a Ghanaian twist and a growing body of innovative dishes rooted .

First, a soup from his home in Abetifi – a town in the mountainous area of kawahu where farmers with an entrepreneurial reputation come from. The soup is made of prekese, carrots, wild African bird pepper, red onions, leeks and carrots. A plantain chips and cherry tomato salsa cleanses the pallet. Then, a kawahu farmers selection unfolds. I am drawn to the extraordinary herb lamb rack, cocoyam puree, star anise and suya dust. Just explaining it to me opened up a unique mountainous African landscape.?

Kwame was clear on presentation - each ingredient given space on the plate so that taste could be unpacked rather than confused. Aside of delicious food, in London Kwame had combined with musician Ebo Taylor to ensure that a soundtrack of Ghanaian music helped shape a memorable experience.?

Project Kenten just had a master class in where the harvest can lead. We talked of who he had cooked for – Prince Charles, Idris Elba and other celebrities for “pop-up” private dining events. Then we were back at the core of his thinking again – ingredients to be found at the Madina and Makola markets as places of spectacular choice and a stage where the choreography of buyers and sellers unfolds every day.?

Kwame Afmo – note the name – is a young chef working the world to raise high the profile of ingredients and combinations of flavour that can place Ghana firmly on the global food map.?

Kwame’s vision and sheer momentum raises the bar for agri-business to respond. It is not enough to plug post-harvest losses; it is unacceptable to allow imports of vegetables to grow year-on-year and, especially as conflict dislocates established supply lines. Ghanaian produce has to perform to compete with the best – because these ingredients can. This is far more than food and protein security. This is Ghanaian food taking the global stage with the best.?

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