Supported by
Front Burner
How to Serve Fonio
A cookbook from the chef Pierre Thiam offers a guide to making this African grain.
Is fonio the new quinoa? This African grain, native to the regions just south of the Sahara, has been given that label. It has a lot going for it, as Pierre Thiam, a New York chef from Senegal, explains in his elegant cookbook. Fonio is easy and fast to grow. It’s also drought-resistant, nutritious, gluten-free and better for the soil than the commodity crops like corn, wheat, soy and rice that have become Africa’s agricultural staples. Once fonio is winnowed and dried, the tiny grains (much smaller than quinoa) can be steamed and used in various ways. (Care must be taken so it doesn’t clump and get gummy, and reheating can be tricky.) The book concentrates on traditional African dishes, with ingredients like cassava, okra, baobab leaf and red palm oil. But for wider appeal, like that of quinoa, it needs more recipes like his excellent roasted salmon with cheesy fonio grits. For me, fonio is more like polenta or cream of wheat than quinoa. I have served it topped with a ragout of mushrooms and used it in meatloaf. But first you need to buy it: There’s a useful list of sources in the book.
“The Fonio Cookbook: An Ancient Grain Rediscovered” by Pierre Thiam (Lake Isle Press, $24.95).
Follow NYT Food on Twitter and NYT Cooking on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest. Get regular updates from NYT Cooking, with recipe suggestions, cooking tips and shopping advice.
Florence Fabricant is a food and wine writer. She writes the weekly Front Burner and Off the Menu columns, as well as the Pairings column, which appears alongside the monthly wine reviews. She has also written 12 cookbooks. More about Florence Fabricant
More on Food and Dining
Keep tabs on dining trends, restaurant reviews and recipes.
Flamboyant displays of fake flowers at restaurants have turned into a maximalist design movement, with one man as a chief trendsetter.
Perloo, a supremely comforting one-pot rice dish, is a Lowcountry staple with roots in West Africa.
Some of the greatest meals pair exalted wines with foods considered humble. Exploring beyond the conventional can be joyous, like the timeless appeal of Champagne and fried chicken.
For many Jamaicans, spice bun is a staple of Lent. But there’s nothing restrictive about this baked good, so named for its bold seasonings.
For Ecuadoreans, fanesca, a labor-intensive lenten soup served just during the lead-up to Easter, is a staple of Holy Week festivities.
Sign up for our “The Veggie” newsletter to get vegetarian recipes for weeknight cooking, packed lunches and dinner parties.
Eating in New York City
Once the pre-eminent food court in Flushing, Queens, for regional Chinese cuisines, the Golden Mall has reopened after a four-year renovation. A new one in Manhattan is on the horizon.
At Noksu, dinner is served below the street, a few yards from the subway turnstiles. But the room and the food seem unmoored from any particular place.
You thought Old World opulence was over? A prolific chef gives it a new and very personal spin at Café Carmellini, Pete Wells writes.
Eyal Shani’s Port Sa’id challenges the conventional wisdom that you can’t get good food in a restaurant with a turntable.
Advertisement