Born and raised in Dakar, Senegal, the bustling and culturally diverse West African metropolis, Pierre Thiam pays homage to traditional West African cuisine through his thoughtful approach to food. He is currently the Co-Founder of Yolélé Foods, a purpose-driven African food company launched in 2017 that specializes in African superfoods and opened in 2019 a restaurant called Teranga inside Harlem new cultural center, where you can find the best moringa latte in NYC, made with Nutu moringa.

He has authored two groundbreaking cookbooks. His first book, Yolele! Recipes from the Heart of Senegal was a nominated finalist of the IACP Julia Child Cookbook Award as well as a Special Jury Award Winner at The Gourmand World Cookbook in Paris.

His second book, SENEGAL: Modern Senegalese Recipes from the Source to the Bowl was nominated James Beard Award for Best International Cookbook.

Thiam has been featured on numerous TV programs including Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown, CNN's Inside Africa and the Food Network's Iron Chef.

Check out his Ted Talk about Fonio the forgotten ancient grain.

1. What are the three words you would use to define the journey that has brought you to this point in your life, your career, your development?

Patience, perseverance, intuition are probably the words that have defined my career.

I never planned to have a career in cooking. I was a physics and chemistry student at Dakar University. During the late 80s, we were involved in student movements and went on strikes that lasted so long that the government decided to cancel the school year.

In brief, that’s how I ended up in NY where I stumbled into a busboy job at a restaurant in the village. Growing up in Senegal, cooking was always a women’s activity.

It was in that restaurant that I first saw men cooking. It was quite fascinating to see all these men dressed in white preparing such beautiful food. I connected with the chemistry in the kitchen and soon, I was doing shifts as a dishwasher. Over time, I progressed from dishwasher to prep cook, then to garde-manger and finally to line cook before becoming a sous chef and then a chef. Thirty years later, I am still in the kitchen.

This process has required much patience and perseverance.

When I was promoted to a chef de cuisine’s position at Boom, a Soho restaurant that specialized in global ethnic cuisine under executive chef Geoffrey Murray, it dawned on me that NY, the so-called food capital of the world had almost no African food. Intuitively, I knew that there was a place for the food I grew up eating and it became my ambition to bring it to the city.

2. What are the 3-5 food ingredients that you couldn’t cook / live without?

Salt and water are obvious, but also citrus and fermentation which are two particularities of the food of Senegal. We use ingredients like tamarind or lime for their acidity and our sauces and stews have umami flavors coming from fermented ingredients like nététou (aka Dawadawa a fermented locust bean) or yett (fermented conch).

3. Is there a project that you’re working on that you’re excited about and could share with us?

I love the work that I presently do with my restaurant Teranga and with my food distribution company Yolélé Foods.

Through it, I introduce ingredients and food products that are sourced through smallholder communities in West Africa.

I am particularly excited about Fonio, an ancient grain that’s nutritious and drought resistant. I want to see Fonio become a world-class crop and improve the lives of the communities that grow it, which are among the poorest in the world.

4. What is the best meal someone made for you?

My mother’s seafood and okra stew.

5. What is the importance of ritual in your life? What are a few of your daily or weekly rituals?

I like to rise with the sun for a daily meditation. I repeat it at night before going to sleep.

6. We see sustainability as an ever-evolving process, a continuous striving toward a better way of living and being. How are you trying to make your way toward being more sustainable?

I believe that it’s our responsibility to live a more sustainable life. We owe it to our planet and to the future generations.

7. Nutu — from the French nous tous, meaning “all of us” — believes strongly in the interconnectedness of all beings. In what ways do you connect to your community, or to the world at large? How do you give back?

Nutu, Love it! That may become my new motto (lol).

In a sense, giving back is what I do for a living.

In Senegal, we say “Nio Far” which means “we are together” in Wolof.

Indeed, the world is much smaller than we think. Poverty and desertification in the Sahel region are both directly connected to the refugees crisis in Europe or to the extremism in our regions. Ignoring those problems will affect us one way or another. It’s imperative that we all realize a “Nutu” approach to living.

8. What new (or old) ingredients are you excited about right now?

Obviously, I am excited about Fonio which is the subject of my upcoming cookbook (and I also did a whole TED talk around it) but I am also excited about all these nutritious ingredients from Africa, more particularly moringa and baobab.

Fonio, Cassava & Moringa gnocchi with Red Palm Oil - Tomato sauce - Recipe from Pierre Thiam The Fonio Cookbook - Photography by Adam Bartos

9. How important is it to you to know where your ingredients come from and how they’re grown?

Very important! The way our ingredients are grown directly impacts the way they taste. Unfortunately, we too often forget this important fact.

10. What are your top three places to get healthy, simple food ?

Casamance in south Senegal is a beautiful region with incredibly healthy and delicious food.

The Dead Sea and the food of the Middle East is another place I really enjoyed.

11. Can you share with us what resources you turn to for healthy and happy living?

I am very fortunate to have an incredible life partner. Lisa constantly inspires me to live a healthier and happier life.

Meet Pierre Thiam — Chef, Restaurateur, Social Entrepreneur “Giving back is what I do for a living”