Skip to main content
West African food isn’t easy to find in Portland, but according to Fatou Ouattara, chef at Akadi (1001 SE Division St., 971-271-7072, akadipdx.com) in Southeast, many Americans have been eating it all their lives without knowing it.
“A lot of people have eaten gumbo before, but they don’t realize this is West African food,” Ouattara says. “They’ve eaten jambalaya, which is jollof. There’s a taboo of talking about slavery, and because the food is linked with that history, it’s not talked about.”
Ouattara came to the U.S. from Ivory Coast in 2009 and established Akadi as a food cart in 2015, serving dishes from Ivory Coast, Senegal, Ghana, Mali and Burkina Faso. Ouattara was initially discouraged by early customers who were quick to stereotype the food as “weird” due to their unfamiliarity with West African cuisine, but it’s hard to imagine anyone not finding something they’d love on the Akadi menu.
Thick stews and starches dominate: fragrant rice, doughy fufu, plantains caramelized to a shade of deep bronze and served with a brown sauce that’s popular enough to sell on its own. Akadi also provides ample options for vegetarians and vegans, not least an okra stew ($28) that’s the secret star of the menu.
Akadi opened its first brick-and-mortar location in 2017 in Northeast Portland, which Ouattara shut down during the pandemic. The new location on Southeast Division Street opened in 2022 and has seen steady business ever since, sometimes hosting live music and changing its menu depending on the availability of the hard-to-find African produce and spices Ouattara uses in her dishes.
“The current location is three times the size of the old location, and we still fill it up,” Ouattara says. “People get excited to try West African cuisine, and they’re curious about it.”
See the rest of Willamette Week’s Best of Portland 2024 here!