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Chef surprises Zimbabwean friend with food from his homeland—and ends up in tears

“This is why I cook.”

Credit: TikTok @wan.maus

The power of food and sharing cultures.

Has food ever transported you back to your childhood? Perhaps an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie that tastes just like your grandmother's, or soup at a restaurant that takes you back to those moments when you were sick and your mom fed you by the spoonful. (Or, this scene from Ratatouille.) That's exactly what happened when Papua New Guinean chef Wan Maus surprised his friend James with a home-cooked meal. But this wasn't just any meal—it was a Zimbabwean feast, with dishes that hailed from James' home country.

What began as a simple gesture of friendship became something far more profound. This moment—two men embracing through tears, grateful for each other—perfectly captures how food can bridge cultures, remind us of our heritage, and connect us in a uniquely human way.


 
 @wan.maus I surprised my Zimbabwean born friend to some traditional ZAE recipes. What a treat to cook and share! God is good.#pngtiktok🇵🇬 #cookingtiktok #zimbabweantiktok #zimbabwetiktok🇿🇼🇿🇼🇿🇼🇿🇼 #foodietiktok #maize ♬ original sound - wan maus 
 
 

The video, shared to TikTok, begins with a sentence: “This is why I cook.” James is sitting at the dining room table, chatting away as if it were any other day. He shares a quick anecdote about Australia before a steaming hot bowl of sadza—a maize-based staple at the heart of Zimbabwean cuisine—hits the table. What unfolds is pure magic.

“Oh my god, you are joking,” he exclaims, followed by an admission from the heart: “Do you know when I last ate that? I was twelve years old. That's nuts,” he laughs, never for a second taking his eyes off the sadza.

More dishes appear, and James's emotions grow stronger and stronger. It's clear that, for him, this is more than just sustenance—cooking food from his home country, Zimbabwe, is like telling someone you love them. At times, he's speechless; when the hifiridzi, or beef and spinach stew, arrives, James begins clapping above his head and excitedly taking photos. But it's the okra that breaks him. The final dish to appear, its mere sight triggers an even deeper laugh—one that slowly morphs into what is also a sob.

“Down memory lane,” he says wistfully. Then, “Oh, brother,” as he turns to hug his friend very, very tightly.


via GIPHY

The raw, emotional depth this video displays has resonated with 3.5 million viewers. Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay wrote, “This is incredible. Well done !”

Another person commented, “We need more examples of male friendship like this. If men felt consistently comfortable to connect this deeply with each other, the world would be a better place.”

“It’s not just about the food,” another person wrote. “It’s the feeling of being home and having someone care about you like that.”


 screenshot, tiktok. chef, gordon ramsay So good, even Ramsay had to give him props. Credit: TikTok @wan.maus

 

Dishes that tell a story

 

Sadza, the heart of Zimbabwe.

 

Sadza is the cornerstone of Zimbabwe's culinary identity. Made by adding water to finely ground white maize (corn), it creates a smooth, firm porridge that serves as both food and utensil—as it's traditionally eaten with hands. “People eat sadza every day, often twice daily, making it more than food,” explains website, The Goldmidi. “It represents Zimbabwe's culture and heritage.”


Hifiridzi, community on a plate.

 

Named after Highfield, a neighborhood in the country's capital, Harare, hifiridzi is all about resourcefulness and vibrant community spirit that defines Zimbabwean cooking and way of life. It's a hearty dish of beef short ribs slow-cooked with leafy greens, onions, garlic, and tomatoes. Made with vegetables often picked from the cook's own garden, hifiridzi embodies the essence of “community-based cooking”—where preparing and sharing meals strengthens the bonds between people.


Okra, the binding force.

 

Locally known as “derere,” okra is a popular vegetable in Zimbabwean cooking, where you'll find it in stews combined with tomatoes, onions, ground nuts, and peanut butter. Thanks to its unique consistency, okra's texture helps thicken stews and bind ingredients together, mirroring the way it brings people together, too.


The beauty of Wan Maus's video lies not in his technique or culinary prowess, but in this simple act of kindness that reminds us how food serves as a universal language of love. Or, as one food writer puts it:

“Food is colorful. It is flavorful. It nourishes and promotes health. But more than all of that, it unites. It heals… Food is as much a form of expression as laughter or music. It is integral to humanity, and something that certainly holds a special place in my heart.”


via GIPHY

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7 mouthwatering dishes that show the African origins of Southern soul food.

It's time for some Southern discomfort.

Michael Twitty is a southerner, a Jew, a cook, a gay black man, a TED fellow, a historian, and an all around cool dude.

I first discovered him in a Washington Post article about his work uncovering and illuminating the African-American origins of southern cooking.

OOooh!

He’s a man who spends his time trying to deeply understand, uncover, and then share the roots of the food he loves. And he goes to great lengths to do it — he once spent 16 hours picking cotton to get the experience of his ancestors.

Another time, he met with the white descendants of the family that once OWNED his ancestors to compare recipes of their families!

He writes about these experiences and more on his hugely popular blog, Afroculinaria.

Through food, Twitty sees a way to heal old American wounds.

Twitty is on a mission to bring attention and appreciation to the true roots of our favorite Southern dishes.

He calls it "culinary justice."

As he wrote in an open letter to Paula Deen (that later went viral):

"In the world of Southern food, we are lacking a diversity of voices and that does not just mean Black people — or Black perspectives! We are surrounded by culinary injustice where some Southerners take credit for things that enslaved Africans and their descendants played key roles in innovating. Barbecue, in my lifetime, may go the way of the Blues and the banjo... a relic of our culture that whisps away. "

As a semi-Southern white person, I've often looked at Southern food, culture, history and been like, "There's a lot more here that I don't know about."

Well, turns out there is!

Here are some of Twitty's favorite authentic dishes, all of which went on to have a huge influence on Southern soul food.

I dug through Twitty's Twitter account to find these gems. And now I am hungry. Join me.

1. Fried chicken and sweet potatoes

A true classic!

Many people see these dishes as classic Southern fare, but there's a LOT more to Southern culinary traditions, as you'll see below.

Here's a nod to the so-called classic, with a very authentic twist — prepared over open coals! #impressive.

2. Kush, aka the original cornbread stuffing

Twitty's recipe was featured in Vice magazine's Munchies:

“Kush was a cornbread scramble made from the basic elements of the antebellum ration system, which spread from the enslaved person’s quarters outward to the Big House and the kitchens of whites high and low.”

The kush above is prepared with quail. You can find the recipe for Twitty's kush here.

3. West African stew

Any Southern person has a special relationship with okra. Trust me.

Twitty (and this stew below) is no different. He prepares an authentic West African stew featuring the mythical okra, a tropical plant native to Africa.

Here's the recipe (with links to the tweets!):

     
  1. Heat the palm oil.
    2.  
  2. Add the sweet potatoes.
    3.  
  3. Add the onions and okra and fry over high heat.
    4.  
  4. Add soaked salt fish and a few chopped tomatoes, maybe garlic.
    5.  
  5. Add fresh greens and stir gently; salt to taste.
    6.  
  6. Add red pepper and stew until vegetables are done and salt fish is flaked and hot.
    7.  
  7. Watch out for bones. Eat stew with your favorite starch.

And if you're wondering what that fluffy mashed-potato-like substance is, it's...

4. Fufu

Twitty recently collaborated with Colonial Williamsburg to illuminate the culinary traditions of slaves during that time period. The dishes are nothing if not period appropriate at Colonial Williamsburg, and this highlight is just one of many that serves to bring the stories of American slaves into the light.

Fufu "is to Western and Central Africa cooking what mashed potatoes are to traditional European-American cooking."

Oh, and high-five for Colonial Williamsburg not shying away from acknowledging America's legacy of slavery!

5. Akara

Akara are black-eyed pea fritters!

Black-eyed peas, or Vigna unguiculata, are actually native to Asia and the Mediterranean, and they were first domesticated in West Africa.

6. Gullah Geechee winter greens and rice

As Twitty stated in a cooking video with ChefsFeed, "Gullah and Geechee were colloquial names for the Africans that were brought to the [American Southern coastal] area to grow rice"

The dish is essentially collard greens simmered in a homemade ginger-peanut butter-coconut milk. This recipe is vegan and gluten free, just FYI.

Feast your eyes.

I want to go there. You can learn more about the recipe by watching the video here. Image via ChefsFeed/YouTube.

And as for the plain and simple rice? Let's remember its origins.


7. Guinea yam fried in palm oil


The Igbo people are an ethnic group of Africans that still exist today. During the trans-Atlantic slave trade, though, many Igbo people were brought to the Chesapeake Bay and Maryland colonies, making that particular ethnic group the largest in the region.

So naturally it follows that these folks would've had a huge influence on the way food was prepared — bringing their own traditions and methods with them. Including dishes like this one.

To find the origins of these dishes, Michael Twitty sought out recipes not just from his family, but from the descendants of the family that once enslaved his ancestors.

And yes, he's related by blood to some of those descendants of slave owners, too. It's a whole mix of history and food, shame and love.

It's crazy to think about ... but so is America.

It's about time we recognized that the folks who profit off Southern food — like Paula Deen and Colonel Sanders — aren't necessarily the only ones who made it what it is today.

Michael Twitty's job isn't just to whip up fantastic looking dishes. It's to make sure everyone knows that Southern food has deeper roots in black American culture than we ever realized.

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