On today’s school lunch menu is: jollof rice and chicken, or egusi and fufu, with puff puff for dessert. This is a possibility that New York restaurateur Lookman Afolayan is hoping to bring to New York City schools. To that end, the owner of Buka NYC in Brooklyn’s Bed-Stuy and on Manhattan’s Lower East Side has been treating after school students to the Nigerian fare for a few weeks now.
“I want to spread the Joy of egusi and fufu to the children of our city,” Afolayan, who has been setting up visits to after school programs citywide since February’s Black History Month, told the Amsterdam News. “Fufu is trending right now, and not only do I want to have our New York City schoolchildren sample it, I want to show them how to make it.”
Visits to his social media platforms show how excited the children are when he shows up with his dishes, which include the world famous jollof rice, and puff puff, a fried, doughnut-like sweet treat.