The great staple of Ethiopian cuisine, injera, is now winning converts further afield. The soft, spongy flat bread made from the grain called teff is in demand from Ethiopians living in the United States. Regular flights by Ethiopian Airlines to the US capital means locals are getting a chance to sample the real thing, too.
Of the more than a quarter of a million Ethiopians living in the US, the most concentrated population lives around Washington DC. They've brought with them an exciting food culture which for many Americans is quite different from their usual diet. It's even led to culinary tours in the the capital's "Little Ethiopia".
"We have injera here where you could use the end, all the flavors, injera absorbs all the flavors and you can roll it up and you have like a cigar," said Christopher Pitt, tour guide of Food Tour Corp.
Meaza Zemedu owns a restaurant in nearby Falls Church, Virginia. She says business is being boosted by those looking to cut wheat out of their diets for health reasons.
"Well, it brings us a lot of customers. Yes, those people who are health conscious. We are getting a lot of customers because of teff also, yes. A lot of people read about it, they've been writing about it. So it's good for business," she said.
Celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow and Victoria Beckham have promoted the health benefits of teff which they regard as a "super food", boosting demand for the flour and for injera.
The secret of the success of restaurants like this one in the Washington DC area is the fact that only twenty-two miles in that direction is Washington Dulles International Airport where Ethiopia Airlines brings in fresh injera like this, six days a week.
Because demand outstrips supply and raises domestic prices, the Ethiopian government has banned the export of the grain itself.
So some US farmers are now growing teff which they sell to food stores and restaurants.
"I mean it doesn't have to be necessarily needs to be imported from Ethiopia, it doesn't have to. But of course there is a means to import it from Ethiopia, there is enough in Ethiopia itself, okay. Otherwise we bake it here too," Zemedu said.
The boom in Ethiopian restaurants also provides an opportunity to promote other specialties, like coffee, thereby spreading the economic benefits of injera's popularity far and wide.
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