Michael Elégbèdé the Pioneer

MICHAEL ELÉGBÈDÉ THE PIONEER AT HIS LAGOS RESTAURANT, CHEF MICHAEL ELÉGBÈDÉ HAS TAKEN INSPIRATION FROM ALL OVER NIGERIA. THE RESULT IS A STRIKING FINE DINING MENU REFLECTING THE DIVERSE LANDSCAPES AND COMMUNITIES OF HIS HOME COUNTRY. WORDS: LAUREN JADE HILL Poached prawn in banga soup. Mango sorbet able to tell a Nigerian story through food, so it with toasted coconut crumble and mint felt very natural to gravitate towards the fine sugarcane agua fresca. Ayamase braised goat dining approach.” coated in puffed ofada rice. At ÌTÀN Test In order to create these narratives through Kitchen in Lagos, chef Michael Elégbèdé is cooking, Elégbèdé realised he’d need to forge a serving up Nigerian food in a whole new way. deeper connection with his country’s cuisine. His goal: to raise the profile of his country’s “I knew a lot about the food of the Yoruba cuisine. “I want to use my work to educate people in western Nigeria, where I’m from, people nationally and internationally in how but I realised that as a country with over 250 dynamic we are as a people through our food,” different ethnic groups, there had to be a lot he says. more to it. I wanted to express myself as a Elégbèdé’s focus is on Nigerian cooking, Nigerian chef but what I was really doing was but his gastronomic journey began in the expressing myself as a Yoruba chef.” US, almost a decade ago. “I was at culinary So, in 2016, the chef bought himself a ticket school — the Culinary Institute of America, back to Lagos, planning to travel around at Greystone, California — when I realised I Nigeria, cook in some of its most rural places could go into food to make a difference,” he and eat with the people who lived there. He says. “I saw other chefs using their profession researched the landscapes, cultures and to impact society and I knew I could do the history of different regions, before setting same as a Nigerian.” his ambitious plans in motion. Elégbèdé Learning the ropes at restaurants such as The travelled to every corner of the country, French Laundry, in Northern California, and including areas of natural beauty, such as the New York’s Eleven Madison Park (both of which Sankwala Mountains in Cross River State, have three Michelin stars) sparked in Elégbèdé bordering Cameroon. Ayamase braised goat with puffed a passion for haute cuisine. “Understanding “When people talk about Nigeria, you ofada rice the storytelling aspect [of fine dining] and never hear about the mountains, foothills or Right: Michael Elégbèdé being able to tell a story of my people — of the waterfalls,” he says. “[Through food] I wanted unheard, unspoken and silenced — through to talk about the diverse terrain we have in this Next page: Dining room at ÌTÀN Test food was what drove me towards that form of country and how that influences the culture Kitchen, ready for service IMAGES: KAMSI OFILI; TOLA ODUMOSUN cooking,” he says. “I always imagined being and what people eat.” 40 NATIONALGEOGRAPHIC.CO.UK/FOOD-TRAVEL NATIONALGEOGRAPHIC.CO.UK/FOOD-TRAVEL 41 Boli ati epa This popular Nigerian street food is typically made by roasting whole plantain on a charcoal grill and serving it with peanuts or crushed pepper sauce. At ÌTÀN Test Kitchen Michael Elégbèdé creates his own peanut-citrus interpretation of this classic dish. SERVES: 4 TAKES: 15 MINS INGREDIENTS 4 whole plantains, peeled In the southern coastal state of Akwa Ibom, food system along with an appreciation for 35g roasted peanuts, plus extra, Elégbèdé fished for tilapia by canoe, while these ingredients,” Elégbèdé says. “We’re crushed, to garnish in the northwestern state of Kaduna he met starting to go through a culinary revolution, 115ml freshly squeezed orange a farmer who’d created a sustainable food agriculturally as well as in the kitchen. juice (2 oranges should system — the community traded produce We’re getting a lot more diversity in the be enough) they’d grown and reared, rather than using ingredients being grown, and as a result 115ml peanut oil money. Community gatherings served as there’s more for chefs to use in the kitchen. pinch of cayenne pepper introductions to regional foods and cultures. It’s a symbiotic relationship, but we still don’t 12 orange segments “Everywhere I went, I talked to people who are have local representation of food in the way fresh basil leaves, to garnish passionate about where they are, their culture we should. That’s where ÌTÀN comes in. We’re and their community,” Elégbèdé says. encouraging people by saying we can cook METHOD He learnt about northern Nigeria’s various what’s ours and cook it well.” Heat a barbecue grill to ethnic groups, in particular the Hausa- At the restaurant, Elégbèdé and his team 190C, place the plantains on Fulani people, whose traditionally nomadic curate tasting menus designed to tell a story the grill and turn as necessary, lifestyle has influenced their cuisine, which about the cuisine of individual regions. When allowing them to caramelise on encompasses ingredients such as couscous, we speak, they’re about to launch a northern all sides (alternatively, use an cured meats and ghee. And in areas such as Nigerian menu, with a strong focus on the oven grill, turning the plantains Calabar, in southern Nigeria, he discovered ingredients and cooking techniques of the as often as needed to get an the complexity of spices used in specialities Fulani people. Dishes include seared knife even colour); this should take like banga (palm nut soup), which, along with fish with dawadawa (a fermented locust bean around 12 mins. Remove from ayamase (spicy meat and pepper stew) has been condiment), tamarind glaze, zogale (moringa the heat once caramelised on reinvented for Elégbèdé’s restaurant menu. leaves) and sweet potato. Staff tell diners about the outside and soft inside. “This diversity of ingredients, flavours the inspiration behind each dish, referencing Meanwhile, make the and techniques, from the mountains and local traditions such as building ‘groundnut vinaigrette. Combine the rainforest to fresh- and saltwater, is part of pyramids’ out of groundnut sacks as a sign of roasted peanuts, orange juice, what makes Nigerian cuisine so unique,” he wealth, a practice that was common in the first peanut oil, cayenne pepper says. “If there’s one thing I hope I’m able to half of the 20th century. and a pinch of salt in a blender achieve with food in Nigeria, it’s getting us to Looking ahead, Elégbèdé hopes to open and blitz until smooth. see the value of our land and our culture.” more restaurants, both nationally and abroad Halve the grilled plantains It was in 2019, after his six-month odyssey — pandemic permitting. “A lot of people lengthways and divide the and involvement in projects such as Chef’s come to the Test Kitchen and have an almost pieces equally between four Manifesto — a global initiative bringing educational experience. We want people to plates, placing them cut-side chefs together to improve the food systems of leave knowing a little bit more about the people up. Top each plate with three their regions — that Elégbèdé opened ÌTÀN and culture of Nigeria,” he says. “I came [back] orange segments, garnish with Test Kitchen. This was swiftly followed by here thinking the people who needed it the the basil and dress with 1 tsp of the creation of an agricultural collective, most were those outside the country, but I’ve the peanut-citrus vinaigrette. Abori, which connects Nigerian farmers who realised this is necessary for Nigerians as well. Finish with a sprinkle of the otherwise have no online presence with local The post-colonial mentality didn’t allow us to crushed peanuts and a pinch restaurants, chefs and home cooks. talk about our food, our culture and our history. of salt, then serve. “What we’re doing goes beyond fine We’ve always aspired for something that isn’t dining — we’re trying to create a sustainable here. Now that mindset is changing.” ODUMOSUN TOLA IMAGES: 42 NATIONALGEOGRAPHIC.CO.UK/FOOD-TRAVEL.

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