Pan-Africa
Kitchens of the Sub-Sahara
As the sun set in Zimbabwe’s lush Honde Valley, I watched kids push car tyres up and down the street, racing each other through the village. In Africa, most often, less is more. People are used to working with what they have, and rural kitchens are a testament to this. Mix a heat source, clean water, and a few utensils with locally grown staples and a freshly butchered animal, et voilà pure, simple, resourceful culinary bliss.
These photos depict some of the kitchens I saw in 2025 during a trip through Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Malawi for Standart. The titles are my own.
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Rachel Apple is a Cup of Excellence Head Judge, photographer, and co-founder of Raise the Bar, a community and education platform for specialty coffee professionals. She loves bin diving for vinyl,...
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