ClevelandPeople.Com Food Adventurers Passport Zoma Ethiopian Restaurant 2240 Lee Rd, Cleveland Heights, OH 44118 November 6, 2017
The Cleveland Food Adventurers Passport event in November 2017 was to Ethiopia at Zoma Ethiopian Restaurant.
As you know, the Food Adventurers travel to authentic ethnic restaurants in the Cleveland area and, besides enjoying a special traditional menu, learn about the culture of the country. Zoma is run by Zeleke Belete and the evening included many glimpses into the geography, history and culture of Ethiopia.
Zeleke Belete and his wife
Debbie Hanson of ClevelandPeople.com introduced Zeleke Belete, owner of the Ethiopian Restaurant Zoma in Cleveland Heights Ohio, at the ClevelandPeople.Com Food Adventurers event. He told the crowd how to say welcome and thank you in Amharic, the main language of Ethiopia.
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Zeleke told the Food Adventurers that they had entered a Fork Free Zone and explained that Ethiopian food is eaten with the spongy injera bread instead of silverware.
Zeleke prepared a special menu for the Adventurers including:
Mild Chicken Stew
Mild Beef Stew
Spicy Beef Stew
Beef tips
Red Lentil stew
Split Yellow Peas
Chick Pea stew with beef
Cabbage and Carrots
Kale and collard Greens
Green Beans and carrots
House Salad
Fresh made cottage cheese
Injera bread
Zeleke was asked about condiments like mustard and ketchup with Ethiopian food. He said they use ginger, garlic, jalapenos, etc.
Zeleke Belete
He was asked about the hot spice in some of the dishes and said that it was a jalapeno pepper.
The Adventurers had many questions about Ethiopian food - what a typical meal is, what a holiday meal would be, Honey Wine, fried food, sweets and desserts and so on. And Zeleke answered them all.
There was also a lot of interest in Ethiopia and its people and culture. Zeleke said that the calendar in Ethiopia has 13 months, not 12. It is the year 2010 in Ethiopia, not 2017.
Dan Hanson of ClevelandPeople.com showed that Ethiopia is in the Horn of Africa and how the geography is important to the politics and history. He told of the Nile River, how Ethiopia is the originator of coffee and about the languages (Amharic and others) and religions (Orthodox Christian and Muslim) of Ethiopia.
Dan also told how several important finds have propelled Ethiopia to the forefront of palaeontology including the several hundred pieces of bone fossils representing 40 percent of the skeleton of a female of the hominin species estimated to have lived 3.2 million years ago that is called Lucy. He told the cool story how they came up with that name.
Dan Hanson the told how the Rastafarian movement began in Jamaica in 1930 and was practiced by reggae musicians such as Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. He told how some Rastas considered Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia to be Jah (God) or the second coming of Christ or a great prophet.
Aklilu Demessie is from Ethiopia and he told about Eritrea splitting off from Ethiopia, how Ethiopia was never colonized, why Ethiopians are good runners, how the President Jimmy Carter administration played a role in Ethiopian and Somalian issues with Russia and more.
Joseph Meissner told some interesting stories about Ethiopia - the history and religions and, of course, Emperor Haile Selassie.
Joe Meissner
After dinner there was an Ethiopian coffee ceremony.
As the coffee was being prepared Zeleke told the people why they serve snacks during the Ethiopian coffee ceremony.
The food was delicious and the cultural presentations were enlightening. It was another great Passport Adventure.
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If you want to reach the Ethnic communities in Cleveland and Northeast Ohio, please contact us.
Stay informed about the news and special events of the Cleveland Ethiopian community and any other Group(s) you choose by signing up for the free ClevelandPeople.Com e-newsletter
If you want to reach the Ethiopian community in Cleveland and Northeast Ohio, please contact us.
