Pick Up the Fonio, Save the World?

When chef and fonio evangelist Pierre Thiam was a young cook in New York City, he observed: “My tradition and my culture were absent from that world.”

Fast forward three decades, and on the stage at the Napa campus of the Culinary Institute of America, Thiam is still cooking. At the moment, he is simmering caldou - a dish from south Senegal, where his family originates - to be served over fonio couscous. Almost simultaneously, he whips up a chocolate coconut fonio pudding. Fonio generates a whole-grain, gluten-free base for both dinner and dessert.

As Thiam’s hands dance across the stove and the images are beamed to a rapt audience of the Worlds of Flavor conference, he extols the virtues of an ancient grain. “Fonio is the oldest cultivated grain of Africa. It’s great for the environment.” He reminds the audience of their duty to eat with diversity in order to eat sustainably, but also of how easy eating with diversity and sustainability can be. “Fonio cooks in five minutes. It cooks like rice. You can have salads with fonio, you can bake with fonio. We have an all-purpose flour made with fonio.” He alternatively speaks with his hands and lifts lids, gently tosses fonio, and flips simmering fish. Fonio is an overlooked ancient African grain that Yolélé sources directly from smallholder West African farmers, then renders into chips, pre-seasoned packets and other products, as well as distributing it to restaurants.

_{Pierre Thiam, photo courtesy of Pierre Thiam}

Thiam is the chef and owner of critically acclaimed, Harlem-based restaurant Teranga, which serves fast-casual West African fare, also directly sourced from farmers in the region. He is also the co-founder of Yolélé, a purpose-driven food business that makes African ingredients available to US home cooks and restaurants, while connecting smallholder farms in West Africa with the global food economy.

“It’s gluten-free and very nutritious, with two amino acids in abundance, but the most exciting part for us chefs in the community is that fonio is very versatile. It has a neutral flavour that makes it easy to adapt in different types of cuisines.”

Fonio has been featured on menus at chain restaurants like Tender Greens, True Food Kitchen, Fresh & Co, and Burger Lounge; as well as single operators including The Modern at the Whitney, Little Beet Table, Dimes, The Metropolitan Museum of Art restaurants, Mercer Kitchen, Dakar Nola, Moi Moi DC, and The Grey. 

_{Photo courtesy of Pierre Thiam.}

Thiam adds a scotch bonnet to his caldou, explaining: “It’s a chilli that has to be used very carefully. Just put it whole. Don’t break it. In the same broth, there’s tomato and onion breaking down with fish sauce.” He laughs and winces, imagining the chilli breaking apart.

“Make sure you turn your heat to the lowest setting, keep it covered so it’s steaming and cooking at the same time,” he advises. “As soon as your water is evaporated, your fonio is ready. Turn off the heat. All I have to do now is fluff it with my fork and cover it.” He swivels a fork around the pot.

“Fonio is the lady farmers’ crop. It grows fast and in poor soil. Farmers just have to wait for the rain to arrive. Then they just throw the fonio. It takes about two months to grow.” When you’re eating fonio, “you’re having an impact, using an under-utilised crop. Water is a big problem in this planet and this crop can save us.”

Thiam adds cooked fonio to a simmering pan of coconut milk, then decorates the luscious chocolate pudding with sliced strawberries, blueberries and raspberries, toasted coconut. “You have to eat with your eyes first – et voila!”

Dinner and dessert are executed in 20 minutes flat. “Let’s do as we do in television,” he remarks, as the audience laughs.

_{Photo courtesy of Pierre Thiam.}

I’ve cooked Yolele’s fonio before. At home, I’ll serve it like rice or beat an egg into it, then fry up fonio pancakes. It’s filling and quick to execute – while I’ll wait 40 minutes for my rice cooker to yield dinner, I can serve a complete dish made with fonio in a third of that time.

I catch up with Thiam by phone after Worlds of Flavor and ask why he chose to showcase the caldou with fonio couscous and fonio pudding. “I wouldn’t say they’re my favourite, but they’re dishes I thought would be a good way for the audience to see how versatile they are.” I marvel at how many ways fonio can be used, from fonio sushi to fonio beer (Brooklyn Brewery partnered with Yolélé to craft a world-class brew). Thiam thinks of fonio as limitless and untethered to a specific cuisine. “That’s important if you really want to touch a wider market – to not limit it to traditional recipes. That would be a missed opportunity. You have to allow for creativity.” Nevertheless, he has written cookbooks that often call for readers to seek out substitutions. Summon his next venture: spice blends.

Thiam is in the midst of launching a new category of spices and condiments, which further his broader mission of bringing West African ingredients and flavours to the mainstream. “Maybe I can begin a chain that begins with small farmers in Africa and ends with the grocery store,” he says. “Fonio was our Trojan horse for this brand. It’s easy to work with, it’s great for the environment. It was the perfect product we intend to continue growing. But these spice blends will make some of our recipes [go] so much faster. We thought that it was important that our community has access to [these spices]. And give seasoned cooks a new set of flavours to deal with.”

There’s still a long road ahead for Yolélé, as Thiam describes his plans to eventually move packaging operations from America back to Senegal (the spices originate in West Africa, but at present, packing and jarring them are accomplished stateside), building a mill in Mali that would further support West African communities, “and establish a structure in Senegal that is going to be doing the packaging and distribution.”

Where fonio could spark creativity for chefs of any background, the spices work even harder. “They’re not only supporting communities back home but they’re climate friendly and they add to educating people about the cuisine of West Africa.”