Okra stew ingredients3/21/2024 ![]() ![]() On one end, stacks of textiles, plastic buckets, tools, and toys created a seemingly endless backdrop against which sellers shouted and negotiated with buyers. ![]() We made our way through corridors and crevices of this vibrant and noisy marketplace. As instructed, we donned our West African slacks and shirts and set out for the market. The next morning Ben and I woke up with a slight hangover from a dinner of Beninese rum and imported Pringles, eager to make our way through Dantokpa Market with Jean-Paul and his mother, Augustine. Photographer Ben Dome (front), guide Jean-Paul Houndagnon (middle), and writer Jody Ray (back) walking through Dantokpa Market in Benin wearing traditional West African garments. It’s one thing to simply know the ingredients for the dish it’s an entire honor to purchase them alongside locals, and then to observe how they are meant to be prepared and cooked, inside their home. We asked if we could meet them in the morning. My colleague Ben Dome, a UK-based photographer, and I were instantly intrigued. She could easily show you where to go! She could probably even make some for you.” “Where can I find the ingredients for gumbo stew?” I had asked him. "As a native of Louisiana, I came here scouting the ingredients for okra stew, the West African dish that historically lent itself to the beloved gumbo of my home state." -Jody Ray I was told to begin my journey to Dantokpa in the early morning, at the advice of a local friend and tour guide named Jean-Paul Houndagnon, a Beninese citizen who helped me find backroad cafés and Vodou markets in neighboring Togo. A traditional West African okra stew requires two to three pounds of okra, a vegetable used in Louisiana gumbos as well, that was originally brought to North America by enslaved Africans. ![]()
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