Mama Africa: A Journey Through the History and Impact of African Restaurants

Jun 01, 2025 0

African cuisine has profoundly influenced global culinary landscapes, particularly in regions like the American South, where dishes such as gumbo and hoppin’ john have deep African roots. This article explores the history and impact of African restaurants, highlighting establishments like Mama Africa, Bennachin, Nando's, and others that have played a significant role in celebrating and promoting African heritage through food.

The Rise of African Cuisine

The rise of pan-African cuisine from casual eateries to fine dining establishments signifies a broader cultural reclamation. In New Orleans, for example, Chef Serigne Mbaye's restaurant, Dakar NOLA, honors the connections between African and American cuisine. Mbaye emphasizes the influence of Africans on what is known as Creole Cajun cuisine, arguing that key ingredients like rice would be absent without African contributions.

Rosalind Cummings-Yeates, a Smithsonian contributor, notes that chefs like Eric Adjepong, with fine-dining training, combine traditional West African ingredients and communal dining with sophisticated techniques and presentation. This shift has been influenced by cooking shows and increased visibility of African chefs, enabling them to open restaurants and share their culture with a wider audience.

Bennachin: A West African Culinary Pioneer in New Orleans

Bennachin, located at 1212 Royal Street in New Orleans, has made an indelible mark on the city's cuisine by specializing in West African cooking. The restaurant's namesake dish, bennachin, is a plate of fluffy jollof rice, often described as "African jambalaya." Accompanied by a buttered roll and jama-jama, a side dish of sauteed spinach, the dish showcases the heat of ginger and red bell pepper, along with the allium zing of onion and garlic.

Fanta Tambajang, the owner of Bennachin, didn’t originally plan to open a West African restaurant in New Orleans. She moved to the city in the early 1980s after her husband relocated to Ohio for his education. New Orleans's warm climate and well-seasoned food reminded her of West African cuisine, and she soon found companionship with other African immigrants.

Read also: Exploring Mama Africa Food

Tambajang says she and her husband moved their family to New Orleans in the early 1980s. They initially settled in the city’s uptown area, a district dotted with oak trees and shotgun houses. The couple’s daughter, Salimatou, was born in 1985, and another son - the youngest - followed in 1988. While Tambajang’s husband finished his education, she worked at Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, cooking and serving the cult-favorite chain’s fried chicken. Then, she landed a job as a cashier at a Time Saver convenience store.

Tambajang felt pleased by New Orleans’s weather, friendly locals, and well-seasoned food, which reminded her of West African cuisine. She soon crossed paths with other African immigrants, bumping into them while she shopped at local stores. “It was much, much better,” says Tambajang.

Africans in New Orleans, who often hailed from West African countries like Senegal, Gambia, and Benin, or formerly French-occupied islands like Haiti, have deeply embedded, but painful roots in the city. Enslaved people were forced to work the lands of the French colony in the 18th century, according to the Louisiana Folklife Program. French colonizers kidnapped 200 people from the Senegambian region in 1719 because of its similarities to the Mississippi Valley, the program reports. By 1721, enslaved people from West Africa made up 30 percent of the city’s population, according to the National Park Service. At the start of the 19th century, more than half of New Orleans’s population consisted of freed and enslaved people of African lineage. after slavery’s end, many in these communities held onto their heritages, influencing New Orleans’s culture in turn. Classic dishes, like gumbo and red beans and rice, can be traced and credited to the tenacity, resilience, and culinary dexterity of Africans.

By the mid-20th century, New Orleans’s economy began to heavily rely on tourism. During this time, Black cooks worked in restaurant kitchens, but couldn’t eat in their dining rooms. Desegregation of local restaurants finally came with a 1963 court decision on a Louisiana-based civil rights case.

In 1992, Tambajang and Alyse Ntube, a fellow immigrant from Cameroon, opened Bennachin’s original location in Metairie’s Fat City. The restaurant relocated to its current space in the French Quarter in 2003. Salimatou, Tambajang’s daughter, eventually took the place of Ntube, who left Bennachin for another job around the time of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

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Bennachin has secured its own chapter in the history of New Orleans cuisine - and for the Tambajang family it’s preserved a love of culture and cookery across generations.

Nando's: A Global Peri-Peri Phenomenon

Founded in Johannesburg in 1987, Nando's operates over 1,200 outlets in 30 countries. The restaurant is known for its peri-peri chicken and has become a global phenomenon.

Fernando Duarte and his friend Robert Brozin, the founders of the first Nando's, bought a restaurant previously called "Chickenland" and renamed it Nando's.

Nando's opened its first restaurants within the United Kingdom, in 1992, in the west London suburbs of Ealing and Earls Court, initially focusing on takeaway food. The UK arm, owned by the Enthoven family via a private equity company, struggled until chairman Dick Enthoven put his son Robert in control. This decision was taken after Nando's partnered with Harrison, a branding and design agency. They also advised Nando's to design each restaurant individually so no two restaurants were the same, a brand characteristic of the chain. Nando's expanded in the UK in 1993.

Nando's has been established in Malaysia since 1998. The chain is very popular in the country and Malaysia is Nando's third largest market after the United Kingdom and Australia.

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Nando's has been in continuous operation within Australia since 1990, when the first restaurant opened in Tuart Hill in Western Australia. Nando's has operated since 1994 in Canada. Nando's was first established in Ireland in 2008. Nando's opened their first outlet in New Zealand, at Glenfield in 2000.

Nando's opened its first restaurant location within the United States in Washington, D.C.

However, an altered version was released, with the puppet's face pixelated and the voice altered. In 2011, Nando's launched a "Last dictators" advert in South Africa.[67] The 60-second commercial shows a sad Robert Mugabe dining alone at Christmas in a large mansion while he reminisces about "happier times" with former dictators, such as playing water tag with Muammar Gaddafi, singing karaoke with Mao Zedong, making snow angels in the sand with Saddam Hussein, pushing P. W. This section needs to be updated.

In its 2023 tax strategy, the company states that "Nando's policy is to maintain its tax affairs responsibly and transparently.

Nando's has faced controversies over its advertising campaigns. In 2002, an Australian ad campaign based around the mandatory detention of refugees sparked controversy. During the South African national elections of 2009, Nando's made an advert lampooning African National Congress Youth League then president Julius Malema by using a puppet that resembled him. Malema's lawyers sued Nando's and the original advert was removed.

Nando's is known for designing each restaurant individually so no two restaurants were the same, a brand characteristic of the chain.

Chicken Licken: A South African Success Story

Chicken Licken's food is positioned as a more affordable option than that of its main competitors in South Africa, KFC and Nando's. Chicken Licken was ranked second after KFC in the Fast Food and Restaurant Chains category of the Sunday Times Markinor 2007 Top Brands Survey, followed closely by Nando's which was ranked second in the previous year.

The brand is known for its humorous television commercials. Early Chicken Licken commercials were conceptualised by and starred actor and creative director Joe Mafela. Chicken Licken was a client of the Net#work BBDO advertising agency until 2016 when advertising agency Joe Public United[17] sold its soul.

Over the years, Chicken Licken has embarked on a hostile campaign to enforce its trademark of the word "soul", aggressively targeting any business, no matter how big or small, that uses the word in its name or as a product. Chicken Licken listed the word "soul" in 1994 as a trademark under the classes of 29 and 30,[39] utilising the word as part of their lexicon in marketing campaigns and product names.

The first noted instance to receive widespread publicity occurred when the fast food giant took legal action against Durban-based vegan restaurant Oh My Soul[40] and frozen food manufacturer We Are Food in 2019.[39] Oh My Soul opened its doors in September 2018, serving vegan meals that included "licken" and "vish".

Targets of lawsuits over the years have included vegan restaurants, independent stores, cafes, food manufacturers, startups, and guest lodges.

At the same time, Chicken Licken had started legal action against Durban frozen food startup We Are Food, owned by sisters Jane and Amy Weare.[39] The sisters had included in their meal options a clean-eating range which included several vegan "Soul Bowls". Chicken Licken argued that a "soul bowl" was not a recognised dish and that the sisters were in contravention of Chicken Licken's trademark.

Initially, new Chicken Licken outlets were only opened in South African townships. Attempts to establish a presence in other African countries have been unsuccessful. Outlets in Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Mauritius were closed down due to problems with franchisees and the supply of chickens, electricity and foreign exchange for ingredients.[1][9][10] Outlets in Lesotho and Swaziland in southern Africa were also closed down due to unpleasant business experiences.

Other African Restaurants Around the Globe

Other African restaurants like Yagg Sii Tenn Authentic African Restaurant in Apex, NC, and Asmara Restaurant in Boston showcase the diversity of African cuisine. Yagg Sii Tenn offers dishes from different African countries, while Asmara Restaurant provides an Eritrean dining experience with traditional tables and artifacts.

The trend of African restaurants is also evident in other establishments such as Senegalese restaurant Dakar NOLA at 3814 Magazine Street, Ethiopian restaurant Addis NOLA at 2514 Bayou Road, and Ethiopian restaurant Cafe Abyssinia at 3511 Magazine Street.

Here is a table summarizing some of the key restaurants discussed:

Restaurant Name	Location	Cuisine	Key Features
Bennachin	New Orleans, LA	West African	Authentic dishes like jollof rice (bennachin) and jama-jama
Nando's	Global (Founded in Johannesburg)	Peri-Peri Chicken	Known for its spicy peri-peri chicken and unique restaurant designs
Chicken Licken	South Africa	Fast Food	More affordable option than that of its main competitors in South Africa, KFC and Nando's
Dakar NOLA	New Orleans, LA	Senegalese	Honors the connections between African and American cuisine
Yagg Sii Tenn Authentic African Restaurant	Apex, NC	Various African Countries	Dishes from different African countries, with cultural seating options
Asmara Restaurant	Boston, MA	Eritrean	Traditional Eritrean dining experience with injera bread and mesob tables