Perth is home to a wealth of different cuisines, including French, Chinese, Greek and plenty of British cooking. But did you know there is also some delicious African cooking available in the city?
Couple Marcin Luszcz and Dzifa Akakpo and their friend Antonia Pina, have been cooking up delicious dishes from Dzifa’s West African home, and selling them at markets across Perth as Add Africa.
Starting in 2018 as a business studies project for Marcin, the trio have faced increasing demand for their popular jollof rice, a recipe which Dzifa brought from Ghana when she moved to Perth more than 10 years ago.
Marcin says: “Me and Dzifa have been together for a while. She’s African and I am from Poland originally. I was studying business and during my second year I had an assignment that used accounting and was trying to get some experience in accounting.
“I asked my work if I could shadow someone and gain experience that way but that wasn’t possible. So I thought why not open some kind of business and do my own accounting and learn it that way. So that was my perspective.
“It could have been Polish food but as original or as popular as African. I found African food much, much more interesting.
“So I asked Dzifa to share her recipes and her food. Then, of course, I tried the food before so I knew how it tasted and knew it would be a great success.”
Home from home
Wanting to bring something of her home culture to her new home city, Dzifa agreed that African cooking was the way to go.
She says: “I had lived in Perth for 10 years and wanted to bring something for myself. I thought, ‘I’ve been here 10 years, what have I got to show for it?’
“I had the recipes and I love to cook, while he had the business idea. So we put that together.”
Rounding off the team, and bringing her sales experience from selling fish on the streets of her home town in Portugal, Antonia is often the one at the forefront of the Add Africa stall at local markets.
Antonia says: “When I was seven years old I was selling fish with my mum. At that time it was forbidden to sell fish in the street in Portugal but because of this, I had the experience of having to sell the fish but also call out for customers to come and buy the fish from me or from my mother.
“Dzifa and Marcin asked if I would be interested to help them. That made me very happy because it reminded me of my childhood and so I said yes.”
Own roles
The Add Africa team members each have their own role, according to Marcin, which is what makes them able to sell great food to locals.
He continued: “We all have separate roles. I’m dealing with the paperwork and all the financial stuff, Dzifa is providing the recipes and in charge of operations, what’s going on in the kitchen and the health and safety stuff. Dzifa is also a nurse so she’s very serious about her hygiene.
“Antonia is a great seller and is really, really great at the markets, at drawing in customers and selling directly.”
Becoming more popular at Perth’s farmers’ market, where they started in 2018, Marcin says the team wants to branch out more into weddings, parties and events.
“We started in October 2018, selling at the farmers’ market,” he added. “It was just once a month and then we had a break because of the pandemic so we stopped for a year then started again at the end of 2020 when the restrictions started easing.
“Now we are also selling at The Yard marketplace in Perth, and that’s twice a month. Plus we are getting to go to events such as the Glenalmond Farmers’ Market a few weeks ago. We’re hoping to do more events, such as weddings and parties.
“It’s getting popular now and gaining traction so we are actually thinking of hiring a place with a kitchen because ours is too small now to do some of the bigger orders and bigger events.”
On the menu
After starting up again following lockdown, Add Africa only have their jollof rice dish on their menu, but hope to introduce a few old favourites in the coming months.
Dzifa adds: “I grew up in Ghana. We have four dishes on our original menu and it’s actually all dishes and recipes from Ghana. Our main dish is jollof rice, which is popular in the whole of West Africa.
“We are thinking of including the four dishes we have on the menu quite soon, but we want to do it gradually to make sure people get used to them.
“At the moment it’s just the jollof rice we are making for the markets.
“We’ve had a lot of good feedback. At the last market we did, the youngest customer was only two and she said the food was delicious.”
Marcin continues: “Kids usually like it very much. We give away some free samples as people aren’t really used to the dish. I think about 90% of those who try it end up buying some to take home and the feedback is always very positive.
“We’ve got a Facebook page and people can order through that. If someone wants to order we would usually make it for them to collect at the next market but, if someone requests it, we can also deliver within the Perth area.
“The rice can come with beef or egg or peanuts, so there are three options, one for meat eaters, vegetarians and vegans. And it’s £8 per portion.”