It was a hot Saturday in downtown Salt Lake City, and food trucks, nonstop dance and musical performances and a huge bouncy castle dotted the Afro Utah Festival. Tucked into a corner by the main stage, three Utah women tended steaming pots of rice and tomatoes.
“Right now I'm just prepping, like cutting the onions, basically the base sauce of the rice,” said Fatimah Bradshaw.
Bradshaw was born in Sierra Leone, but her mother’s side of the family is Liberian. Growing up, she learned to cook in her grandmother’s restaurant. On Saturday, she was making a Liberian version of Jollof rice, a traditional West African dish made of rice, tomatoes, peppers, onions and lots of spices.
“I saw the flyer on Instagram,” Bradshaw said. “I really believe I'm a really good chef, and also, you know, I think it'll be fun, something different.”
She was competing in the festival’s Jollof Rice Competition. The winner was to receive a $1,000 prize, and there were serious bragging rights on the line.
“In our African community, it's like a rivalry: Ghanaian, Nigerian, Senegalian, Sierra Leone, Liberian. It's crazy how competitive we are. So I'm really excited to see what we're bringing,” said Bradshaw.
This was the competition’s first year, but the festival started in 2021 as a way to celebrate the state’s Black and African people and businesses in the wake of the pandemic and George Floyd’s murder.
“And the first year, we didn't know how it was going to go. Plus, it was the pandemic; we were terrified, and we hosted it regardless,” said Gloria Mensah, the executive director of GK Folks Foundation, the nonprofit that organizes the event.
That year she said about a thousand people showed up, and it’s grown ever since.
“People tell me it's needed, because there are times when you go a whole year without seeing another person from a different culture, right? Or you're the only person in your church or in your community or in your school or in your work that is from a different culture,” Mensah said.
As for why a Jollof rice competition, Mensah said the dish feels like home.
“I grew up eating Jollof. That's a staple food in Nigeria and most African countries. It's like morning, afternoon, evening. You can eat Jollof every day,” she said.
Home cook Shasha Nogaye stirred a big iron pot bubbling with fish and crab. Nogaye is from Senegal and has been in Utah for a couple of years. Speaking in French, Senegal’s official language, she said she’s happy to be here, and Utah is now her home.
“Utah, pour moi, c'est un pays que moi j’aime,” she said. “C'est moi pays. I like Utah.”
Down the sidewalk, Jessica Ami prepared a Nigerian take on Jollof rice with beef.
“Jollof rice to me screams party. And when I smell Jollof rice, I think of ‘oh, who is getting married right now? What birthday party is going on?’” she said.
Ami has a home cooking business called +234 SLC Nigerian Kitchen featuring traditional Nigerian food she delivers to people’s homes. These days, she is saving up to start a restaurant.
“I need more people in Utah to know about Jollof rice, because they keep ordering egusi soup and fufu. But like, there's Jollof rice too,” she said. “There's a lot of recipes in Nigerian cuisine that you can enjoy.”
Making Jollof rice isn’t necessarily hard, she said.
“It just takes a lot of attention because it burns every second you look away. It's like a baby, you know, that you have to tend to every single time till it's ready,” Ami said.
The hours ticked by, pots sizzled and the air turned fragrant. It was hot and loud under the tents where the women cooked, but even that couldn’t dampen Fatimah Bradshaw’s spirit.
“Sorry, I'm just happy when I cook my food. I just get happy,” she said, laughing.
As time ran out, the cooks plated their creations. They spooned up orange-red rice and various proteins. Nogaye’s featured fresh lobster tails and fish. Bradshaw’s had shrimp, steak and sausage. Ami’s had boiled beef.
One by one, the judges tasted each dish in front of the crowd. After a brief deliberation, they reached a decision.
With a drum roll, the emcee announced the winner: Fatimah Bradshaw.
Bradshaw danced to the front as music thumped in the background and people cheered.
As she accepted the prize money, Bradshaw told the crowd of her beginnings in her grandma’s restaurant.
“And this really means a lot. I'm like over the cloud nine. So yes, I'm a chef and I can cook.”
Jessica Ami was disappointed in the outcome, but still happy with what she accomplished. “So, at least I made my friends and people that know about me proud.”
And as Ami dished up her food to waiting friends, people were already asking for her business card.
