Calling all food enthusiasts: help highlight African cuisine in Belgium
Project title
Vyakulani Africa
Location
Belgium
Duration
June 2024 – January 2025
Vyakulani is Swahili for “in the foods” or “which foods”, which embodies our intention to explore and celebrate the rich and diverse food traditions of the African diasporas.
Interest in nutritious plant-based diets is on the rise, yet African foods have not gained the recognition they deserve in Europe despite efforts to promote fair-trade food systems. For African diasporas in Europe, cooking with traditional ingredients remains a key part of their identity and heritage. However, the influence of Western lifestyles and biases against African food often echo colonial attitudes, limiting the acceptance and awareness of nutritious African foods like millet, fonio, and sorghum.
While other exotic dishes like kimchi, lemongrass, and quinoa are widely accepted, African superfoods and the role of African agrofood entrepreneurship in biodiversity conservation are not well-known. The project aims to:
• Highlight the importance and potential of African food systems.
• Encourage Africans in Europe to reconnect with their culinary traditions.
• Promote healthy African foods to the wider public.
We will document African diasporas foodways in Belgium using a citizen science approach. Members of the African diasporas will define research questions, collect food stories, and share the results through a three-step process: REFLECT, COLLECT, and CELEBRATE.
Join us in exploring and celebrating the richness of African cuisine in Europe!
How to participate
We invite you to join us for an information session in English and French where we will:
- Discuss the goals and vision of Vyakulani Africa.
- Explain how you can be a citizen scientist and contribute to data collection.
- Outline our outreach activities, including cooking demonstrations, food tastings, seminars, and campaigns.
- Share how the project's results will be made available to the public.
Date: 4 July 2024
Time: 7pm
Meeting ID: 353 404 916 230
Passcode: XzSrZz
Who are we?
Vyakulani Africa is an initiative of The Food Bridge vzw in collaboration with the AfricaMuseum. It has received support from the Impetus Accelerator for Citizen Science. It is part of its second call.