Celebrate The Foods of Kwanzaa

Kwanzaa starts today and runs for seven days. Here adults and children learn all about the principles of the holiday and about the Mazao, or the fall harvest , usually in October. Like the many African countries Kwanzza is rich in vegetable diversity.

How to celebrate the holiday. Start with joliff rice which is regular white rice cooked in chicken broth and seasoned with tomatoes and peppers. There are also yams and black eyed peas or hoppin' john. The first t is eaten plain and the second usually cooked with spiced meat Peanuts are also big in the Kwanzaa celebration and are usually served up in a spicy stew. Dessert is usually benne wafers, butter cookies made with sesame seeds. Sesame is a big crop along the western African coast.

Kwanzaa is a celebration of the seven principles that drive life. One is the celebration of the harvest and in turn of the good food that the lands brings to us.