This stunning African cookware for kitchen or table makes the perfect addition to a boho-chic kitchen, or an antiques collector’s home. And sure, these pieces have their practical purposes too. But just look at them!
Potjie
A three-legged South African cast-iron potjie, or pot, is like the African crockpot — it’s a great way to make lots of food and serve it family style. You can barbecue by adding in a grill rack and placing the potjie over hot coals, or you can add in all ingredients to make a stew. The round shape of the bowl collects falling liquids, keeping the food moist and flavorful.
These adorable wooden salad servers with animal print handles come from African artisans, using Fair Trade practices. They’re handmade and water and stain resistant.
A couscoussier does just what its name implies: makes delicious, fluffy couscous. It’s essentially two pots in one, with a perforated top for steaming food, and a bottom pot for stewing food. This is a traditional North African item, and the one pictured here is handmade and hand hammered.
Tagines are used in a lot of Moroccan stews. Typically one would slow cook poultry, meat or fish with fruits, vegetables and spices in the tagine for a super-tender stew that’s thoroughly marinated.
A calabash is a hollowed-out, dried gourd used for holding and serving food. You’ll find these handmade and beautifully decorated gourds at African markets everywhere. The calabash is such a staple of African homes that the Johannesburg Soccer City Stadium was designed to look like one.
True African cuisine requires a lot of grinding of fresh spices, so a good mortar and pestle are essential to the kitchen of any African gourmet. Pictured here is a gorgeous black wooden ebony spice grinder with an African elephant engraved on it.
The tripod spice plate originates from Kenya. After grinding your spices with your mortar and pestle, transfer them here for easy access while cooking, or as a decorative piece at the table for guests to add their own spice to their meal. The one pictured here is handmade.
If you really want to feel like tribal royalty, sip out of these massive goblets. These African drinking goblets originated from South Africa, and the ones pictured here were carved by Zulu crafters. You’ll see African animals carved into the ebony wood.
This sturdy basket has been treated with a substance that makes it capable of holding liquid — typically in Africa it’s used to carry milk and water. It’s very lightweight but also sturdy.
These platters are carved out of wood and are made for serving meat. You can place one on top of the other, with the one on top upside down as a cover to keep food warm. There are usually beautiful engravings on the bottoms of the plates.