Notes from a Young Black Chef

Gumbo, in it’s basic form, arrived shortly after 1720, carried in the flavor memories of enslaved West African people. The word gumbo comes from the Gold Coast Twi term ki ngombo, which means “okra” (itself an Igno word, the language of my grandfather and my father). It was a staple up and down West Africa, from Benin to Ghana and Nigeria. Ripped from their own country and planted in a new one, these enslaved people sought out what was familiar to them in the fields of Louisiana. They ate their ki ngombo mixed with rice, another staple from their homeland. As the okra gave their stew its supple texture, kernels of rice gave it body. This was the start of what we now know as gumbo.