Half Nigerian / Fully Plantain

Jessica Kehinde Ngo grew up in Central California, a world away from her father’s homeland of Nigeria. But every once in a while, her father heated up a skillet, sliced open some ripe plantains, and transported his children to a place they had never visited before. In the years leading up to and following her father’s passing, Ngo noticed an absence of plantain stories in Western media. She found herself advocating for the fruit, which had become one of few connections to her ancestors that was within her reach. Half Nigerian / Fully Plantain follows Ngo as she meets other plantain advocates whose stories become a part of her story—a pair of anthropologists teaching a class on bananas on the New York Botanical Garden grounds, a Ghanaian-American operating a vegan plantain-based food business, a Dominican children’s book author writing about the fruit, the Nigerian founder of a popular online community and lifestyle brand dedicated to plantains, and other extraordinary humans who are, as she likes to say, made of plantains. Through these life-altering encounters, she learns that the food that makes her feel the most unique is also the food that unites her with others across the globe. By the book’s end, readers will come to appreciate the monumental role the plantain plays in cultures across the globe and also be reminded how a single food can connect us to our roots and inspire us to carry on.

Pre-order / Community-backing launching on November 10!