African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 347: Chapter 26: East African Cuisine?

Promoting pig farming is a path highly suitable for East Africa, and Ernst plans to make pork one of the main meat consumptions in East Africa’s future.

As for beef and lamb, East African ranching faces higher risks compared to other countries. In other nations like the United States, Argentina, Europe, and Asia, most ranches are in mid-to-high latitudes with relatively mild climates, notably the 40 to 50 degrees north and south latitudes, known as the ”Golden Prairie Belt.”

African grasslands, however, span along the equator, forming unique sparse savannahs. The primary challenge for East African ranching is pest and disease, with the tsetse fly being a significant issue. The only way to handle the tsetse fly is through manual care and maintenance.

Tsetse flies are mainly found in humid rainforests, river valleys, and similar environments. This is why East African ranches are established in northern Kenya and the Highland Province, which are areas with scarce rainfall and dry climates. The most suitable region for large ranches in Africa is actually South Africa, due to its high latitude.

Of course, there’s no need to overly fear the tsetse fly. It’s not unique to Africa; it also exists in the Middle East and North Africa. However, Arabs seem to suffer less from its harm compared to Africans, and this relates to sanitary conditions. Many natives don’t bother to shoo away flies that crawl on them, let alone care for livestock.

However, due to the unique nature of African tropical savannahs, they are indeed not conducive to cattle and sheep farming. It’s not a matter of quantity but rather quality. For instance, people would prefer to purchase high-quality beef, and on the international market, beef from North and South America and Europe is certainly more competitive.

The Western dominance in the discourse of the previous world gives a misconception that Westerners drink wine with steak every day and Americans eat fried chicken burgers every day.

This is a misleading notion from the media. For instance, Westerners also eat pork chops, but nobody from the Far East advertises it, possibly due to undesirable flavors.

In the previous world, Americans primarily consumed chicken, ranking first in meat consumption, but American capitalists also raised pigs. To enhance lean meat percentages, they added some harmful substances. However, Americans rarely ate pork themselves; it was mainly for export.

Currently, pork and lamb remain the top meat choices for European commoners. This persists even into the 21st century, whereas North and South America differ due to the developed livestock industry.

Why has beef consumption in Europe gradually replaced pork, and steak almost become a representative food of high-end Western life?

The main reason is the limited ways Europeans process pork. Firstly, there’s a strong odor in non-castrated pork.

Secondly, the methods of preparing pork are too monotonous. In Ernst’s view, German sausages, bacon, smoked meat, and ham make Germany the top consumer of pork in Europe because they transform pork into a delicious treat.

German sausages are world-renowned, and Germans love sausages. There are more than a hundred ways to prepare them, mainly divided into grilled sausages, boiled sausages, and raw sausages. Nuremberg sausages, curry sausages, smoked black beer sausages, Vienna sausages, and blood sausages are all sausage variations created by Germans.

Introducing Far East-style sausage into this lineup would be delightful. Ernst was particularly fond of Sichuan-style sausages in his previous life, mainly due to his penchant for spicy flavors. For those who dislike spicy foods, sweet-tasting Cantonese sausages are worth trying.

Regarding pork preparations, the Far East boasts another killer tactic: ”braised” products, a Far Eastern specialty.

Braised products are excellent for making military food cans. Ernst’s food factory had experience in this area. During the Italo-Austrian war, the Vienna food factory launched two flavors: braised beef and braised pork, both well-received on the front lines. However, due to low production, they later became exclusive to Austrian officers.

These military food cans, in terms of taste, surpass British salted beef cans, but they have a shelf life of only one year. Coupled with high production costs, this limits their output.

The primary reason is that the military cannot rely solely on canned goods for sustenance. Most military units still have to cook their meals, using canned goods only in emergencies.

Military food, in this era, depends entirely on the cook’s skills, often resulting in appalling food conditions.

Military food cans, especially those produced by Heixinggen, easily captivate Austrian soldiers’ taste buds.

Currently, the Vienna food factory and Berlin food factory are intensifying their efforts to develop (plagiarizing Far East braised products) new products. For Heixinggen’s food enterprises, plagiarism is nearly a routine practice.

As a member of the gastronomically inclined nation in a previous life, would Ernst honestly invest in developing delicacies? Most of Heixinggen’s research funds are funneled into ”preserving” food.

As for flavors, they can simply copy what’s already available, as there are plenty of things Europeans have never seen.

Besides braised products, there is East Africa’s diversity in cooking methods. European households primarily focus on pan-frying and grilling pork, but East Africa is different, offering pan-frying, grilling, deep-frying, steaming, and boiling. Should conditions allow, East African foodies have already set these up.

East Africa’s immigrants are quite diverse, but true gourmands are mainly immigrants from the Far East and Italy, who have high culinary expectations and the abundance of East African produce allows them to experiment.

Among these, deep-frying is distinctly East African. Edible oils in East Africa are primarily of plant origin, with a wide range of choices. Sesame oil is of the highest quality, as Africa is among the best places for sesame cultivation with immense advantages. Butter is entirely absent or never appeared in East Africa.

East Africa mainly raises beef cattle, with no focus on milk production. Lacking raw materials, natural butter production is low. Only in pasture areas might some immigrants make small amounts of homemade butter.

Only the First Town has a herd of Dutch dairy cows, serving as exclusive supplies for the First Town, but it’s not suitable for widespread promotion. As the capital, the First Town enjoys countless privileges.

In the past, there was talk of the world’s top three cuisines: Chinese Cuisine, French cuisine, and Turkish cuisine. Not considering taste and just based on influence, one should also consider British-Indian curry masala, Japanese cuisine, and American fast food.

East Africa has Chinese Cuisine, mainly Lu Cuisine. As for European cuisines, East Africa focuses on Italian dishes.

However, without any promotion, East African cuisine fails to form a system. Ernst is eager to see an East African cuisine integrating the advantages of various global cuisines.

Using the four major Chinese cuisines as the foundation, incorporating German culinary features, and finally merging the best parts of world cuisines.

East Africa has natural advantages, aside from the scarcity of frigid-zone ingredients, most can be replicated. But it seems the frigid zone lacks culinary delicacies – fermented puffins? Surströmming?