It’s African Restaurant Week in Philadelphia, with special offers and discount meals available at select eateries across the city.
Running through June 30, the event marks a return to Philly after last year’s inaugural celebration, a soft launch that was “hardly promoted” ARW founder Akin Akinsanya told Billy Penn.
This year, Akinsanya and his team are stepping things up, with a free weekend festival at Love Park, online cooking classes, and at least 11 participating restaurants — Akinsanya was still reaching out to business owners when he talked to Billy Penn.
The initiative launched in 2013 in New York City, where Lagos-born Akinsanya, now in his late-forties, had been living since 1994. An enthusiasm for culinary arts and a sense of “cultural pride,” he said, saw him gradually refocus his energies from a career in financial consulting to developing African Restaurant Week into a series of annual events.
“Ten years ago, if you spoke to chefs that came from Africa that were trained in culinary schools, they’d probably tell you ‘I’m Thai-trained, I’m French-trained,’” Akinsanya explained. “We had cuisine that wasn’t being featured — like it never existed.”
The situation is better today, he said — in part, he hopes, due to the decade-long efforts of African Restaurant Week — but Akinsanya’s still eager to bring more exposure to the scene. In 2021, the initiative expanded to New Jersey; last year to Boston, Raleigh, Atlanta, and Philly. By the end of this year, Akinsanya’s planning on hitting cities in Ohio, Florida, Texas, and Canada, to name a few.
“What we want to do is make [African cuisines] more accessible,” he said, with a priority on supporting small businesses that “typically don’t get the same kind of exposure other restaurants get.”
For this year’s Philly edition, patrons of participating restaurants will be able to enjoy 10% discounts on meals and other special offers by showing a coupon, available for free through Eventbrite. Further exploration is encouraged — snapping a shot of a meal in any of the city’s other African restaurants and tagging its owners and African Restaurant Week on Instagram guarantees entry in a raffle, with prizes like a dinner for two covered by ARW.
“It’s a good [opportunity] to showcase African culture to the city ,” said John Greaves, owner of Food Geez in Northeast Philly, an ARW-participating restaurant, where menu highlights include jollof rice platters, peanut butter soup, spicy cassava leaf, and potato greens. “African culture has had an impact in Philadelphia, but we haven’t been a part of the conversation when it comes to restaurant weeks and things like that.”
Greaves will be one of several restaurateurs setting up booths at this weekend’s Love Park festival. Sponsored by the city’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, the two-day bash, running from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day, will also feature handmade arts and crafts, as well as live performances, traditional dances, and Afrobeat, Ampiano, and Soca DJ sets.
“I want people to know this is their event,” said Akinsanya, one that “creates social cohesion, and a platform for people to come together and celebrate community. Everyone is welcome.”
African Restaurant Week runs through June 30. An updated list of participating venues and the discounts they’re offering can be found here; free tickets to the Love Park festival here. For coupons for discounted meals visit Eventbrite. For more information, visit africanrestaurantweek.com, or follow @africanrestaurantweek on Instagram.
