African Flavors and Personal Stories: Inside the New Episode of Soul Food
Chefs Tom Aviv and Meir Barel explore African culinary influences in a new episode of Soul Food, combining unexpected ingredients like cocoa and steak while discussing gratitude.
What happens when Yemeni lachoh, hilbeh, steak, and cocoa meet on the same table? In the new episode of Soul Food, chefs Tom Aviv and Meir Barel embark on a culinary journey through Africa, reconstructing familiar and lesser-known flavors without sticking to rigid rules, offering plenty of surprises along the way.
From Lachoh to Cocoa
The journey begins with lachoh served with hilbeh and grated tomatoes, moving on to dishes that combine familiar techniques with ingredients and flavors identified with Africa. Barel explains that his inspiration comes from folk tales, history, and the way ingredients like okra, coffee, and cocoa migrated between countries and cultures.
Later, the two prepare roasted cabbage and onions with seasoned fat, leading to one of the most intriguing dishes in the episode: a steak served with a cocoa and Caribbean chili sauce. The cocoa, the chefs explain, is not meant to sweeten the dish, but rather to impart depth, color, and a dark, rich flavor.
"If I enjoy this world, and I understand that someone gave this to me, then say thank you," Barel explains.
Gratitude and Hope
Amidst the pans and pots, the conversation drifts to more personal places. Aviv shares a complex period he went through and the shift in his attitude toward gratitude.
"I say thank you for managing to keep myself in a place of hope," Aviv says, adding that the ability to think about the future, family, and action has become a significant part of his path forward.
Barel summarizes the connection between things with a simple sentence: "Faith creates calm in life." From there, they return to what brought them to the kitchen in the first place: food, creativity, and combinations that do not necessarily have to work together, but succeed precisely because they break the rules.
