West African cuisine in the spotlight on CLEO TV’s ‘Global Gourmet’

There are a lot of misconceptions about West African food and Essie Bartels aims to clear them up – along with show how delicious it can be – in a cooking series currently airing on CLEO TV.

On “Global Gourmet,” airing Wednesdays, the chef and Ghana native walks viewers through the preparation of some of her favorite West African dishes, such as tagine chicken, peppered goat and a peanut butter soup. Along the way, she also shares stories of her travels around the world to places such as Morocco, Jamaica, Thailand and France and even makes meals from those nations as well.

Long considered unhealthy for its reliance on carbs and peanut oil, West African cuisine has come into vogue in recent years among those interested in healthy eating for being plant-based. And integral to that, for Bartels, is palm oil, a much-misunderstood ingredient that has been shrouded in controversy.

In Asia, its mass production has been blamed for deforestation and destruction of wildlife habitats. But in Africa, where it’s grown and harvested sustainably, Bartels says it’s a delicious and unique addition to many recipes.

“Palm oil has a lot of carotenoids, the same ingredients that are found in carrots that give it that beautiful orange color and it has even higher levels of it,” she explains. “It’s such a rich hue of orange. Outside of that, the flavor is so delicious. It’s very thick, it has a very high heating point so you can heat it very high unlike, let’s say a vegetable oil or a canola oil or an olive oil that you can’t heat to high temperatures. So palm oil can be heated really high and then it has a beautiful nutty flavor and finish that you can’t get with any other oil. It’s not similar to anything.”

In addition to teaching about ingredients such as palm oil, grains of selim (akin to a black pepper), folio (similar to quinoa) and alligator pepper, Bartels demonstrates techniques like cooking in a tagine and mixing ingredients using a molcajete, which is not unlike a mortar and pestle.

Bartels learned how to cook from her mother and grandmother and many of the 32 dishes she prepares in Season 1 are family recipes. She hopes they and the series will pique viewers’ curiosity enough to head to their local international food store and give Western African a try.

“Forget everything you think you know about

West African cuisine – just throw it all in the bin ...,” she says. “Just come with open minds, come with fresh eyes to learn, listen, enjoy and just get out of your shell and just be ready to explore and go on this journey.”

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