The sleepy town of Hanover has become a little more international this month as Tastes of Africa World Cuisine and Concepts' Pan-African cuisine joins the mix of Mexican, Chinese, Indian, Thai and others in the mix of the Upper Valley's ever-expanding cultural palate.
Formerly Karibu Tule of White River Junction, Vt., Tastes of Africa has recently opened a kiosk in downtown Hanover, upstairs from Panda House Chinese Restaurant.
Tastes of Africa was developed by former Everything But Anchovies employee and Dartmouth alumnus Melvin Hall '91 and his wife Damaris, a chef who attended culinary school in her home country of Kenya. Damaris and Hall met while Hall was participating in the now-dissolved Dartmouth Foreign Study Program in Kenya.
Karibu Tule existed for nearly a decade in White River Junction, first as a take-out kiosk similar to the one now in Hanover, and eventually expanding to a full restaurant.
According to Linda Darling, manager of the kiosk, Tastes of Africa hopes to expand to a permanent full-service restaurant sometime in the near future. Darling said that the business in White River Junction was not good enough to expand at the rate the management desired, and that alumnus Hall was anxious to move back to Hanover to be closer to his alma mater.
For now, the kiosk is serving take-out lunch and dinner Tuesday through Friday and offering delivery service to Hanover and surrounding towns. Tastes of Africa is also offering full-service catering for events ranging from office parties to weddings.
The food, flavorings and preparation of African cuisine vary from region to region and particularly between northern and southern Africa. However, several common meats in African cuisine include chicken, goat, herring, snapper and shrimp. For vegetables and starches some of the most common are yams, cassava (yucca), cornmeal, plantains, canilla rice and asedua.
African food tends to be flavorful but not strongly spicy, and is sometimes prepared with spices familiar to American tastebuds, including curry powder and ground hot pepper, but can also be dashed with exotic flavorings imported from Africa such as dawa dawa, wre wre and ogbono.
Ten different African countries are represented in over 20 dishes on the menu at Tastes of Africa. One can dine on everything from Kenyan curry chicken, peanut chicken stew from Mali, yassa chicken from Cameroon and groundnut vegetable stew from Ethiopia, as well as side dishes and vegetables from Morocco, Tanzania and others.
There is also a selection of "Homestyle, Caribbean, Creole and Soul" foods, for those less-adventurous eaters who prefer the tasty but familiar such as BBQ or "Southern Style Baked Macaroni and Cheese."
