- 20 hours ago
Food and drink tell the story of who we are, where we've been, and how cultures remain connected across generations and continents. Join us as we explore the rich culinary and beverage traditions of the African diaspora. From Africa to the Caribbean and the American South, this engaging discussion will examine how migration, tradition, entrepreneurship, and innovation continue to shape some of the world's most beloved foods and spirits. Through personal stories, cultural influences, and insights from both the kitchen and behind the bottle, these trailblazers will celebrate the flavors, heritage, and shared experiences that unite communities around the table.
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00:04Our next conversation explores the incredible culinary connections that unite Africa, the
00:10Caribbean, Latin America, and the American South through food, entrepreneurship, and
00:15culture.
00:17So joining us for this conversation is an extraordinary lineup of chefs, entrepreneurs,
00:23and cultural storytellers who continue to shape the global food landscape.
00:27Our moderator, Barku Tubman, is a respected storyteller and entrepreneur whose work celebrates
00:33African culture, identity, and innovation.
00:36Let's give it up for Barku.
00:38Hey.
00:40And she is so stylish and she is so fun.
00:43She is joined by an incredible panel, including Kevin Lakai, founder of Blackleaf Organic Vodka,
00:50whose Ghanaian roots and commitment to authentic African craftsmanship are helping redefine
00:55the premium spirits industry.
00:57Let's give it up for Kevin Lakai.
01:00Looking good in that brown.
01:02Okay.
01:03Prince Lobo, chef and founder of Aris Nola, where Ethiopian flavors and New Orleans traditions
01:09come together in unforgettable ways.
01:11He was just out here making some shrimp and grits his special way.
01:14Welcome Prince Lobo.
01:19There he is.
01:20Two minutes?
01:21You need two minutes?
01:22Oh, you got it.
01:24Looking good.
01:25Looking good.
01:25All right.
01:26And last but certainly not least, Chef Nima coming all the way from Shreveport.
01:31She was also on stage making some delicious shrimp and grits.
01:34Let's give it up for Chef Nima.
01:38Yes.
01:39I will leave it to you, Barku.
01:42Oh, this is so cool that you all just did this whole amazing cooking thing.
01:47I'm in the back telling them, please make sure you keep me some, because when I go back
01:51there, I'm definitely going to be eating some.
01:53Thank you, all three of you for joining us today.
01:56But I'm going to start with introductions, right?
01:58So we're going to start with you.
02:01Introduce yourselves and tell them why.
02:03Tell them about this vodka and, you know, and all that you have going on.
02:08All right.
02:08Perfect.
02:09I think this is working.
02:10Can you all hear me?
02:11All right.
02:11So my name is Kevin Lakai.
02:13So I was born in Nigeria to Ghanaian parents.
02:16I grew up in Botswana.
02:17So I'm a true son of the continent.
02:19And then I found my way to the U.S.
02:22I'm the founder of Blackleaf.
02:24And kind of what the inspiration behind it is the things that we drive commercially, we
02:31should own.
02:32So that's what spearheaded that alongside some other things, very much thinking about what
02:38we could do on the continent, how to platform certain products.
02:42So happy to have this conversation with my fellow panelists.
02:45Awesome.
02:46So next, we're going to go to Chef Prince and let you tell us about yourself.
02:54Uh-oh.
02:57I felt like I did a lot of talking earlier.
03:01You did a lot of talking.
03:02I missed it, though.
03:03But it's cool.
03:03My name is Prince Lobo from I-D-Snow-Law.
03:06Oh, Michelin-recommended Ethiopian food in New Orleans, one of seven in the entire planet.
03:15Family business, seven years, almost a decade in business on Bayou Road, the historic Bayou
03:20Road, the first street in New Orleans with nine other black businesses.
03:25Born in Angola.
03:27And I was raised in New Orleans my entire life.
03:30So when I tell people I was born in Angola, they normally think I was born in the prison.
03:36But I have to clarify that I was not a product of conjugal visits, but in fact born in the
03:46country of Angola,
03:46which in fact was named after kings.
03:49The name Angola means king, and so to name that prison after a lot of the people who were brought
03:53from West Africa,
03:55to name it the prison king, is, you know, a twist on their own game.
04:01So from Angola, Ethiopian mother, decade in the industry with the Ethiopian restaurant, and yeah, that's it.
04:08That's amazing.
04:09See, you talked earlier, but I didn't know that.
04:11You know, we're learning you guys.
04:12And then last but not least, the queen of the stage, who is from Sierra Leone,
04:17and got some peanut butter stuff going on back there that I can't wait to go and try.
04:23There you go.
04:24I see all the guys have their products.
04:26No, I saw you.
04:27I was like, Mama was like, listen.
04:29Wait, we're going to have to make it look pretty, too.
04:31So hold on.
04:31Thank you, sister.
04:32We got to listen.
04:33We're going to put it in the center.
04:35Yes.
04:35Yes, because you got to make sure.
04:37There you go.
04:38Thank you, sister.
04:39Absolutely.
04:41It must.
04:41Well, good afternoon or good morning.
04:44My name is Chef Nima Tulai de Grazia.
04:47I am originally born and raised in Sierra Leone.
04:50I mean, from Sierra Leone.
04:52But now I live in Shreveport, Louisiana, the mecca of food.
04:57I mean, Prince will say otherwise, but I'll say up north, we don't cook for tourists.
05:02We cook like we're cooking for our mom and dads.
05:05And she says north like north Louisiana.
05:07Northwest Louisiana, baby.
05:10I moved here 13 years ago, and I started the very first West African and Caribbean restaurants in Shreveport.
05:18And I'm just so excited to be a part of this panel to discuss everything diaspora and our amazing foodies.
05:25And I'm just excited to be in New Orleans.
05:27Again, my name is Chef Nima de Grazia.
05:30Since he's pushing the Michelin, the one and only that beat Bobby Flay and beat him on Chopped as well.
05:37That part.
05:38Not too much.
05:38Not too much.
05:39I feel like I want you guys to go back and forth and tell me like Shreveport, New Orleans, and
05:43why you say it, you know, it's the capital or not.
05:46But I'm going to get to that at the end of the stage because both of y'all just came
05:49off the stage and doing it.
05:50But one of the beautiful things about black food culture is that it constantly evolving while staying rooted in tradition.
05:59How has your own cultural background shaped the way you think about food today?
06:05Me?
06:06For me, for me, it is staying true to the culture.
06:10You know, when it comes to food, they have taken it, ran with it, make it theirs.
06:16So what I try to do is be the 1% that stay true to the culture.
06:21Don't try to be nobody else or try to make it French or try to make it Asian.
06:27I stay true to our ingredients, to the flavors, because that always speaks for itself.
06:35Our food has a place at every table.
06:38Oh, I love that.
06:39That is amazing.
06:40I really like that, by the way.
06:41I couldn't agree with you more.
06:43I could not agree with you more.
06:44Let's hear from you.
06:45How has your own culture background shaped the way you think about food today?
06:53Well, I love that question so much because I think the way that we experience blackness, right?
07:00Like everybody says, we're not a monolith.
07:03We're so many things and it's so many different things that are all connected but still respectfully different but still
07:10similar and connected.
07:13I think being born in Africa but being raised in the deep south, you know, being raised in that, you
07:20know, Louisiana is still a slave state from my perspective.
07:23And New Orleans tries to operate outside of that but still in many ways embedded in that.
07:28Being born in Africa has allowed me to see black culture for the global culture that it is, not just
07:35something in the 7th Ward, not just something in Treme or, you know, whatever neighborhood,
07:41French Quarter, Uptown, New Orleans, I can see culture in Treme, I can see culture in the 7th Ward and
07:47pinpoint directly where it could be connected to in Africa, you know?
07:52So that's the type of lens that I look at whenever I'm looking at black culture.
07:56Again, up until I really was like 21, I really was living in New Orleans just like anyone else.
08:04But it was until I really went to Africa and really put my feet on the ground that I felt
08:08and I saw how big we really are.
08:12Like I said, you might be Uptown but at the same time culturally and artistically and creatively, you touch the
08:19world, you know?
08:21Just from cooking in your grandma's kitchen, hot plate $20 fish plates.
08:25You know what I mean?
08:26It's like it's literally global cuisine in somebody's grandma's kitchen.
08:31And we don't see ourselves like that, unfortunately.
08:33So my goal is to just help other people have that same perspective.
08:37I love that because it's so true.
08:39It's Africa to the world.
08:41And I'm curious, when you went to Africa for the first time, what country did you go to?
08:45So I went to the prison that I was born in, Angola.
08:51And I'll say that because it is a prison.
08:53I mean, my people, only 80% of the people in the country that I was born, or 80%
08:58of the people in the country that I was born live on less than a dollar a day.
09:01The local government has stolen everything, finance, resources from the local people.
09:07So you see a big, stark dissonance between the culture.
09:13There's no middle class.
09:17Yep.
09:18You get poverty, which the food is fire.
09:22But you get poverty, and then the next street over, you're going to see G-Wagons, Bentleys, Penthouse, Villas, like
09:30we in Miami, turning up another night.
09:33And then you go the next couple streets, and it's literally like the back alleys, you know?
09:39And in many ways, sometimes New Orleans is like that as well, too.
09:43But Angola, it's really, it's been poverty-stricken for a very long time.
09:49Yeah, I mean, I think that's a lot of Africa, right?
09:51You know, it's the leadership problem, right?
09:53Because, and I think that's why these conversations and what you all are doing is so important.
09:57Because thankfully now with social media, and you know, like we say, the whole world is on your phone.
10:04You get to see people that look like you doing things that those very amazing meals that you talk about
10:10show up on stages like this.
10:12But I'm going to ask you the same question, because you have, you know, a vodka brand that is also
10:17rooted from your Ghanaian, you know, heritage.
10:19And so, like, why was that important for you to make sure that it stayed true to your heritage?
10:25Yeah, so I mean, you know, when I think about the taste of the diaspora, right?
10:29So it starts from, you've got all these indigenous products.
10:32If you go to West Africa, we have something called akmeteshin, which is palm wine that's distilled, right?
10:38If you go to the same thing as in Nigeria, it's called ogogoro.
10:42And you've got all these different things, which are very much the taste of the diaspora.
10:46But I think we've evolved where the taste of the diaspora is really what comes from the mind of the
10:52diaspora.
10:53So just as much as the indigenous product, I think this is very much from the mind of someone from
10:59the diaspora.
11:00So elements that I would say with this brand.
11:04So it's a French organic vodka.
11:06And a lot of times when people think of organic, it's a brown paper label is boring.
11:12But we've got style.
11:13So we incorporate our style into that.
11:15So we make organic sexy, right?
11:17So even the name, the black speaks to black excellence and sophistication.
11:22So it's just putting our flavor into what it is that we create.
11:26And I think there's a great opportunity, like you said, Africa to the world, to look at that from a
11:32lot of very different angles.
11:35Yeah.
11:36I mean, listen, I'm from Liberia originally, too.
11:39So I am that part, see?
11:42No, because I actually think that the world is finally catching up to what we already knew about our influence,
11:49about, you know, the taste, the style, the fashion.
11:53It is now that it's happening and music has been leading that.
11:56Fashion is catching up.
11:57And I think food is great.
11:59So, of course, I don't want to ever hear about another Jollof War because, you know, I'm not going to
12:04say where.
12:04But I think, you know, I think the beauty of what that did was introduce, get people to pay attention,
12:09right?
12:09Because to your point, we've been eating this food forever.
12:14It is literally a regular thing to have a home-cooked five-star meal every day in African nations and
12:23homes.
12:24And I don't care how poor you are, you ate that good, right?
12:28You ate that good.
12:28So, you know, we've seen the appreciation of the African and Caribbean cuisine grow so much in the past decades.
12:36But what excites you all the most about where diaspora cuisine is headed next?
12:43For me, I'm excited for the future.
12:47You know, girls around the world will look at me and say, Chef Nima is making a change, right?
12:53When you think about food around the world, you hear Nigeria, you hear Ghana, you never hear Sierra Leone.
13:00But we have the best Jollof, by the way.
13:01Let's just settle it right now.
13:03I was trying not to go there as a Liberian, you know what I mean?
13:07The best Jollof, okay?
13:09The best Jollof and end of story.
13:11But, you know, we used to eat these things.
13:16But here in America now, it is fine-tuned where it's elevated.
13:21You know, they've made it into this posh thing, which I love, okay?
13:27I love it.
13:28This is something that I grew up on.
13:30And to see it, you know, having my brother here being recognized in the Michelin Guide, seeing Dakar Nola, seeing
13:38Compelle La Pen, you know, restaurants are making big waves.
13:43And our food is taking up space.
13:45It is absolutely amazing.
13:48And as a chef who is self-taught, you know, who did not go to school for this craft, and
13:53I'm just so passionate, I just want his daughter to look at me and not struggle about our cuisine.
14:00So we're taking the world by storm.
14:02I hope they're ready.
14:03We're taking our food back, basically.
14:05It is ours, and we're taking it back.
14:07You're taking your food back.
14:08You're taking your taste back.
14:09But I think, you know, when you talk about staying true to the taste, right, and you think of, you
14:15know, like a Dakar, a noir, and then you think of all these, I think part of the beauty of
14:22it is you have to have what you're doing.
14:25I think the other way also invites people to taste something they didn't even know they needed in their lives.
14:31And I think that's what you all are doing by bringing Michelin into what you know is true.
14:36So what are you excited about when you think of, like, African, Caribbean cuisine, like, next?
14:41Like, what does the next look like for you?
14:44I think, you know, to add to Chef Nima's point, I think the next thing for African cuisine is just
14:51to continue to be recognized as the number one cuisine on the face of the earth.
14:55And when I talk about African cuisine, I'm not just talking about Africa.
14:59I'm talking about black food in America.
15:01You know, that's also African cuisine, again, from my perspective, just with my upbringing.
15:07People need to understand that literally everything is a derivative of what we have already created.
15:15You know, so with that being an understanding, I just need to see African food, black food, continuously and just
15:25unanimously be understood as the number one cuisine on the face of the earth.
15:32I ain't worried about the French.
15:34Nope, we ain't really worried about them.
15:35We not worried about the Italian.
15:37It's African food and it's black food and everything else is, you know, is everything else.
15:43It's how I'm feeling.
15:45And it's our food.
15:46It's just attached to a fancy name.
15:49They take it and make it their own and give it a bougie name.
15:53But it is our food and we're coming back for it.
15:56I love that.
15:57And I actually love how you talk about, you know, black in Africa, because I think that is something that
16:03I want people to understand that we're really not different.
16:06Right.
16:06You know, it really is if you and it is the same.
16:09Right.
16:09You will go to all of the different countries that we're all from and you'll still see collard greens.
16:14But southern blacks, they cook it the way they cook it.
16:18We cook it the way you cook it, the way you cook it.
16:20And I think that's the beauty of it is it's none of it is a monolith.
16:24The beauty of which is why we talk about who's invited to the cookout with the potato salad.
16:28Right.
16:28Because one thing, you know, if it's cooked in a black home, it's going to be tasty.
16:34Right.
16:34It's going to be tasty.
16:35Now, the interesting thing is, you know, Africans, most Africans, a lot of Africans, we like to celebrate.
16:41The good time is a part of who we are, what we do.
16:43There's food.
16:44There's going to be drinks.
16:46You know, there's food is going to be drinks.
16:48So, you know, you coming up with, you know, your beverage brand, you know, with the like the stories.
16:54One, like what responsibility comes with you representing your culture?
16:59You know, at this, you talk about organic.
17:02You talk about you also talk about what it represents to you.
17:05Right.
17:06It's made in France, but you specifically made sure your heritage is showing here.
17:10What is that responsibility that you feel when you think about putting this together?
17:14Yeah, I mean, I think the responsibility for all of us in this day and age is ownership.
17:19Right.
17:20The things that we drive commercially, we should own.
17:23So be it, you know, if you're on the continent and platforming all these exciting liquids, giving them a passport,
17:31because there's a whole history about how a lot of these indigenous spirits were banned.
17:36So it allowed, you know, foreign imports to come and dominate locally.
17:41So I think giving those indigenous spirits their platform and their passport is critical.
17:46And then beyond that, I kind of want to see us, you know, if you go to Nigeria right now
17:51or Accra, they're drinking tequila.
17:54They're drinking vodka.
17:55They're drinking all these things.
17:57What does George Clooney know about Mexico?
18:00He doesn't.
18:00Right.
18:01He just had a flavor profile and he introduced it globally.
18:04So why doesn't Burner Boy have a tequila?
18:07Why doesn't Davido?
18:08So these are the kind of things that get me excited.
18:10And I think that's the room where culturally our influence can show up in the spirits game.
18:15So what I love about that is because it is about ownership.
18:18Right.
18:18I always say, you know, Chef Nima, if you were not cooking African food.
18:24Right.
18:24And you were still an amazing chef by virtue of the fact who you are, where you're from, it belongs
18:30to you.
18:30Yes.
18:31You know what I mean?
18:32And so I think that's the beauty of the diaspora.
18:34It doesn't have to be just the African.
18:37When we say it that way, it's that ownership piece.
18:40And that's what's beautiful about what all three of you are doing is the different ways that you can choose
18:45to do it.
18:46And just because you don't do it in that way doesn't mean it's not a part of your heritage because
18:51your success is what our ancestors, is our grandmothers, and our mothers prayed for every day.
18:57And I love when you talk about Sierra Leone because, you know, Liberia is just as small and we can
19:00drive to each other.
19:01Ah, my sister.
19:02My sister.
19:05But I mean, that is like, it's this level of responsibility, right?
19:10When you proudly live in a whole other country and put your country on your back, whether it's through entrepreneurship,
19:18whether it's through the food, whether it's through the fashion.
19:20You know, many of your careers have been built by honoring tradition while embracing innovation.
19:26How do you decide, like, what should remain sacred and where there's room to evolve?
19:32And I'm going to start with you, Chef Prince.
19:34Well, you saw me grab that mic quick.
19:36Yeah, that's why I was like, let me just toss it to him really quick.
19:39What do you preserve and where do you create room to evolve?
19:43Yeah.
19:44I think one of the things about the world, the only thing that is inevitable is change.
19:50Yes.
19:50And that's where the beauty of life exists, is embracing change, embracing fluidity.
19:58So for me, the core of that is like, let's keep our core values unmovable.
20:05Let's keep our community.
20:07Let's keep our food, you know, like healthy foods.
20:11Let's keep our family structure.
20:13Let's keep our economics rigid, but everything else, let's be fluid in the way that we think of clothes.
20:21This right here is a perfect example.
20:23The pants that I'm wearing and even the shirt, this is Malcolm Karinga, okay?
20:28It's a young gentleman, heritage from Kenya, but like five generations, New Orleans, right?
20:35So he has a shop here.
20:36He has a fabric shop here, but these fabrics are from West Africa.
20:40So we took the fabrics and we turned them into a pants this morning.
20:43We did this this morning.
20:45No way.
20:45I swear.
20:46Got up at like five in the morning and we had these fabrics and we got it done, you know?
20:50So shout out to him for that.
20:53But that's a part of where the fluidity of the creativity was like, we got a spark.
20:58We have the fabrics.
20:59Let's find a way to present what we have that exists in a different way to, again, just connect.
21:05And at the end of the day, I think that's what the overall goal should be for everything outside of
21:09keeping our family structure, keeping our community structure, keeping our economics moving.
21:13We need to connect with one another.
21:15And for far too long, we've been divided and conquered and it's time to connect and take over.
21:22That's what we need to do.
21:23I love that.
21:25And you know what?
21:25So first of all, I encourage everybody to get on a plane and go to Africa, to an African country.
21:31Like, please do, do yourself that favor because that very pant that was made this morning, there are so many
21:39tailors, right?
21:41That you can say, you can show them a Chanel dress, give them the fabric, they will make it for
21:46you.
21:47And that's like, that's that creativity.
21:49And so a cousin and an advisor, a confidant of mine, has this company he's called, he calls Black Drive.
21:56And he says, it's not about driving cars.
21:59It's really, it's his IP he owns and it's called Black Drive because the Black Drive is a little bit
22:04different.
22:05You know, that drive of being black.
22:07And I don't even care if you're from Africa or America.
22:09It just is a little bit different because you've got to fight to survive.
22:13So, you know, before we have to close out, if someone leaves the festival inspired to learn more about African
22:20diaspora food and wines and entrepreneurs,
22:23what's the very first dish?
22:26And I'm not going to go to the chef, so I'm going to come to you, the Ghana, Botswana, Nigerian
22:31guy.
22:31Like, what is the very first dish that you would tell them to go experience?
22:37Man, I got to go Jalof.
22:39I got to go Jalof and Keliwile, which is like a fried plantain.
22:43I think that is obviously West African, but that is something that I would say to start with.
22:48And it's all through West Africa, so everybody has a different spin on it.
22:52But that's a good way to get introduced.
22:55And Kengana has the best Jalof, by the way.
22:57Oh, my God.
22:58And I was trying to leave it alone.
23:00I was trying to leave it alone.
23:02So, Chef Nima, I'm going to ask you, what ingredient should they, like, if you, if they got to leave
23:08it alone,
23:09leave here and go experience anything, what ingredient would you recommend they try?
23:14I'd say cassava, because it tells a story with the United States or America, and it tells a story.
23:24You can resonate with it, right?
23:26Because when you go to, like, a Mexican restaurant, you get to eat, they call it yuca.
23:31Yes.
23:32And cassava is such a unique and beautiful root that turns the emergency, you know, roots laying down, and you
23:39can turn it into fufu.
23:41The way Jalof has taken over the world, right, the conversation that surrounds Jalof, it is the same way cassava
23:50is.
23:50So, I'll say cassava because cassava is not just the roots that we eat.
23:56We eat the leaves, too, and it's such a delicious dish.
23:58That's right.
23:59One of my favorites.
24:00I mean, I cook that so well, by the way.
24:03Very well.
24:04Yeah.
24:04I'm coming.
24:04I'm coming.
24:05I'll say cassava.
24:05It's unique.
24:06You can eat it with soup.
24:08You can eat it with, you can make it into fufu, which I did on TV with Prince on Chopped.
24:15So, I'll say, I'll go with cassava because even if you, you're just visiting for the first time and you're
24:21not used to the unique flavors of the country, you can eat roasted cassava with butter.
24:28See what I'm saying?
24:29Absolutely.
24:29So, that's a very amazing, amazing roots.
24:32I'll say try cassava.
24:34Love that.
24:34So, Prince, because you are so passionate, I'm going to ask you this.
24:37If someone leaves this festival inspired to learn about the African diaspora through food, what's the experience you would encourage
24:47them to explore?
24:51And you better say the Essence Food and Wine Festival.
24:55You just took the words out of my mouth.
24:57Now, a couple things.
24:58We're going to do a couple.
25:00We're going to make this a call to action, okay?
25:02We're going to do the high price point experience.
25:05We're going to do the mid, and then we're going to do what you could do today, or what you
25:10already have done today, is be here with us, you know?
25:12That was the first step.
25:14So, I would say to take it a step further, tap in with all of us.
25:17If you're curious about the culture, you're curious about the food, follow our restaurant, I-D-S-N-O-L
25:23-A, A-D-D-I-S-N-O-L-A on Instagram.
25:28Follow Chef...
25:28Nima's West African and Caribbean Cuisine.
25:32How are you spelling Nima?
25:33Because I wanted to find you.
25:34N-I-E-M-A apostrophe S.
25:37West African.
25:38N-I-E-M-A apostrophe S.
25:42Yes.
25:42Nima.
25:43And then follow...
25:44Black Leaf Vodka.
25:46Black Leaf Vodka.
25:47That's the first call to action.
25:49That's the first tier, all right?
25:50We're in that tier.
25:51We already could check that off the box.
25:53I-D-S-N-O-L-A.
25:54Where's your phones?
25:55Chef...
25:55Everybody take your phone out.
25:56There you go.
25:57There you go.
25:57There you go.
25:58And we'll follow you back.
25:58And they're about to kick us off the stage, but we are having so much money.
26:01We got a fire sale going.
26:03I already follow way too many people.
26:06But we're going to follow y'all back.
26:08Follow our pages.
26:08Connect with us.
26:09That's the first call to action.
26:10The second tier, we're going to take it a step further.
26:14Let's just go straight from what we're doing now.
26:16Straight.
26:16Just go to Africa.
26:18Once you connect with us, once you connect with our culture, our food, go to Ades Nola,
26:21the restaurant in New Orleans while y'all are here.
26:23Go to the continent.
26:25I know the tickets are $1,500.
26:27I know it feels like a big leap of faith.
26:30Even myself, I had to get shipped back to Africa in order to end up there.
26:36So, find someone that you know that might know someone.
26:39You know me.
26:40So, you can hit me up directly and we can tap you in with somebody.
26:43But don't go to the continent without a contact, first and foremost.
26:48It is another world.
26:49It is another reality.
26:51It is similar but very different.
26:54So, please have a contact whenever you go to Africa.
26:56The English-speaking countries are a little easier.
26:58Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria.
27:00Nigeria, a little easier but the English-speaking countries are a little bit easier but still
27:06Africans.
27:08So, find a contact, hit her up, go with her, go visit her family, go hang out.
27:12You'll be treated royally.
27:14You'll be treated like the kings and queens that we are and that's really important.
27:18So, top tier is put that $1,500 away, buy that flight, call a friend and pull up for
27:25two weeks to a month.
27:26You're going to need that much time to really soak yourself into the soil.
27:30And you probably would not want to leave.
27:32And then, the first thing is just follow us.
27:35Come to the restaurant.
27:36If you're in Shreveport, come pull up to her theater that she just bought, you know, that
27:41she got a part of the business this year.
27:43Ashley Singer Theater in Shreveport.
27:46And then, buy some black leaf vodka.
27:48We're here.
27:48Do we get to try the vodka today?
27:50Yeah, we're going to try the backstreet.
27:51Crack that open.
27:52So, everybody give it up for our amazing panelists.
27:56I see my beautiful Piper, Skylar, and KJ, my triplets in front.
27:59They lived in Liberia.
28:01Oh, amazing.
28:03So beautiful.
28:03Y'all are so beautiful.
28:05Thank you, guys.
28:05I'm about to go back and try some of that food.
28:07Please do.
28:08And I stayed true to the culture, and I gave them peanut butter stew.
28:11That part.
28:11Yes, girl.
28:12I needed it with some fufu, though, because I had some in the background.
28:16It does, right?
28:18Yeah, absolutely.
28:18All right.
28:19Thank you all so much.
28:20Give them another round of applause.
28:21And they're going to stand here for a photo real quick, but give it up for the chefs and
28:25the panelists.
28:29We have another wonderful conversation coming up in just a little bit.
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