Where to Start with Yohanis Gebreyesus
Yohanis Gebreyesus is an Ethiopian chef, restaurateur, and television personality who has done more than perhaps anyone else to bring Ethiopian cuisine to a global audience through the written word. Born and raised in Ethiopia, he trained at the prestigious Paul Bocuse Institute in Lyon, France, then worked as a chef in California before returning to Addis Ababa. There he founded his restaurant Antica and built the Chef Yohanis brand, which promotes healthy cooking using Ethiopian produce. On EBS, Ethiopia’s national television network reaching 24 million viewers worldwide, he presents a weekly food program that has made him a household name. His cookbook “Ethiopia: Recipes and Traditions from the Horn of Africa” (2019) won both the James Beard Award for Best International Cookbook and the IACP Julia Child First Book Award in 2020, establishing it as the definitive English-language introduction to Ethiopian cooking.
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Ethiopia: Recipes and Traditions from the Horn of Africa
Yohanis Gebreyesus · 224 pages · 2019 · Easy
Themes: ethiopian cuisine, traditional recipes, cultural traditions, spice blends
The definitive English-language cookbook on Ethiopian cuisine, written by a chef who grew up eating this food and trained at the highest levels of European cooking. Gebreyesus brings both personal authority and professional precision to a cuisine that has been underrepresented in the cookbook world.
Why Start Here
This is the only book Gebreyesus has published, and it won the two most prestigious awards a first cookbook can receive: the James Beard Award for Best International Cookbook and the IACP Julia Child First Book Award. The recognition was deserved. The book covers the full range of Ethiopian cooking with a depth and cultural sensitivity that no other English-language cookbook matches. From the foundational spice blends like berbere and mitmita to the slow-simmered stews, flash-fried meats, and vibrant vegetable dishes that make up the Ethiopian table, everything is here.
Gebreyesus writes as someone who wants you to understand not just the recipes but the culture they come from. Each dish is placed in its context: when it is served, what it means, how it connects to Ethiopian traditions of hospitality and communal eating. The photography by Peter Cassidy captures the beauty of both the food and the country.
What to Expect
A 224-page hardcover that functions as both a cookbook and a cultural guide. The recipes are well-organized and clearly written, with helpful introductions to key ingredients and techniques. You will need to build a small pantry of Ethiopian staples, but Gebreyesus provides recipes for the essential spice blends and the fermented flatbread injera. The cooking itself rewards patience over technical skill: slow simmering, careful spice toasting, and the time needed for injera fermentation are the main demands.