Last December I enjoyed a wonderful morning learning how to cook a traditional Gambian meal with the charismatic Ida in her family home. By lunchtime the smells from the cooking pot were driving us all to distraction and we were eager to tuck in to the feast we had helped prepare. As we settled down on to [...]
The rules of wuri!
I first came across the game of wuri when I saw a family playing it in a back street in Mindelo on São Vicente, one of the islands of Cape Verde off the coast of West Africa. A year later, this time on the island of Sal some locals challenged me to play wuri with them. [...]
Cooking with Ida – Fish Benechin
Last December, whilst visiting The Gambia, I spent a lovely morning with the colourful traditional cookery expert Ida Cham-Njai. Ida, originally from The Gambia, studied hotel tourism and catering management in Twickenham in the UK but returned to The Gambia in 1989. Having spent some time working at the popular Senegambia Hotel and then the [...]
International chef Jonathan Groves chats about his career and working in The Gambia
Have you ever cooked for 900 people for a wedding and have 1,500 turn up! No, unsurprisingly, me neither. Jonathan Groves, the superb chef at Ngala Lodge has. Last month, while staying at this beautiful boutique hotel in The Gambia, West Africa, I was lucky enough to interview him and find out more about his career, which [...]
Birthday donations!
In November 2010 Christine Nield, a retired head teacher from Basingstoke, and her husband visited The Gambia for the first time. Since returning they had been looking for a way to help our School Development fund. In April this year Christine celebrated her 60th birthday and in lieu of gifts she generously asked for [...]
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