Dance Africa Bazaar

The bazaar was crowded with shoppers — hungry shoppers.

Though I crossed paths with several clipboard-wielding activists urging folks to vote this November, on the third and final day of the Dance Africa Bazaar I never encountered the ballyhooed "drummers, dancers, and stilt walkers." But among the hundreds of stalls selling African, Caribbean, and African-American crafts, clothing, and recorded music, I did find ample occasion to fill my belly.

Few full-time restaurants put in an appearance (Joloff was one notable exception); most of the food vendors appear only at street fairs, or perhaps work as caterers. Several outfits sold straight-on Jamaican chow like jerk chicken or traditional festival favorites like funnel cakes, but I was more intrigued by a vegan stall called Nyota's Ting (718-217-0583), where I secured a plate of joloff rice, salad, and a surprisingly sturdy vegetarian curry goat ($11). I circled by Nyota's twice more, but I never met up with the "live Cajun nut meat."

Soon after, I faced a difficult decision at the dessert stall of Western Sunrise Gourmet Caterers and Bakers (973-675-2932), where thick sheets of red velvet, German chocolate, and coconut-pineapple cakes stretched the width of the tabletop. Coconut-pineapple suited the not-quite-sweltering weather very well — so well that almost immediately I longed for the cakes I left behind — but that $3 slab of cake was bigger than my fist, and a second piece would have been a major blow to the gut. I'll look for Western Sunrise another time.

Dance Africa Bazaar
To the west of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, 30 Lafayette Ave., Fort Greene
www.BAM.org
Late May

Comments

[UPTOWNFLAVOR]

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