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ABOUT US
African Palava was launched in 1998 as an off-premise catering company specializing in the cuisines of Africa. Our primary goal is to showcase the cuisines of Africa at every event in the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut tri-state area that calls for authenticity in African culture. However, our menu is so diverse that we attract clients across the board, clients who want to experience the unique difference that we offer.
We cater events from small intimate parties to receptions for institutions with hundreds of guests, from sit-down dinners to buffet stations. Our client list includes a number of African Missions to the United Nations, the Jazz Gallery, Sotheby's, Africa-America Institute, Museum for African Art, and a slew of private individuals.
Each event is set up with table top and designer elements that capture the mood of the occasion. We offer a choice of linens, whether plain subtle hues, or fabrics of delicate African print; and we hire the best mannered professional wait staff suited either in crisp conventional uniforms or our own uniforms of white damask printed with African motifs. Our aim is always to exceed the expectation of our client.
EVA NAABORKOR FORSON
Chef and Owner Eva Naaborkor Forson is a native of Ghana and a former United Nations consultant. She has Certificates in Catering and Baking from the Culinary Arts Division of the New School University where she teaches two courses: "An African Feast" and "The Celebration of Kwanzaa". She is in the process of writing a cookbook on the cuisine of Ghana.
 
NY Staying Alive
From: Randy Westons-Atlantic Rhythms.....receive Fitting Tribute
"There's something important that I learned in Africa", says Dale Fitzgerald (manager of the Jazz Gallery...on Manhattan's Lower West Side, and a long time friend of Randy). "Africans don't look at color; they look at culture: What language do you speak? What food do you eat? What music do you play?"
Dale knew that to honor the pianist on his 75th birthday at the Jazz Gallery with a night of music, there would need to be proper cuisine. So, one Sunday evening in April 2001, the long narrow space....was packed with Weston's friends, fans, and well-wishers, all with plates full of what Weston later called "the right stuff". There was joloff rice; one of Weston's favorites...There was kelewele, ginger-spice fried plantain that Fitzgerald had requested. There was chicken, codfish, sorrel drink---a dramatic spread laid out by Eva Forson, a Ghanaian national whose culinary expertise is well-known in New York. Fitzgerald would later tell me, "There can be no intellect without 'culinect'---that is, you've got to get down with the right food and the mind and spirit will follow".
Larry Blumfeld
Jazziz (07/2001)
COOKING CLASSES
 
Out of Africa
"Many of us don't know from Kwanzaa. Do you say "Happy Kwanzaa," for instance, or "Merry Kwanzaa"?" Is there a candle ceremony involved, a la Christmas advents and Hanukkah menorahs? And above all, what's for dinner? These and other questions will be answered at the "Celebration of Kwanzaa: A Holiday Feast of African Heritage". Chef Eva Naaborkor Forson will oversee the festivities and explain how the tradition(which dates back to 1966) celebrates the achievements of all people of African descent. She will be preparing Brazillian cheese turnovers, Senegalese Thiebou Dienne (baked fish with rice cooked in tomato sauce), spoon bread from the American South and Jamaican rum punch."
Venue: The New School University at the Inn on 23rd St. between Sixth and Seventh Aves(212-255-4141)
Month: December 2004
Timeout New York (12/2003)
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