How it’s Made Episode 1 Blockate/Blockade/Blocket/Block Cakes

Welcome to Keng's Kitchen! I am excited to launch a new series on the Keng’s Kitchen platform called "How it's Made"; where I will be traveling around the world to share with you traditional recipes, cooking techniques, and food culture that contributes to the intangible cultural heritage of Cameroon and countries around the world. For our first Episode of How it's Made, I present to you Economic Blockade. Economic Blockade is a staple bread that is widely consumed in the Southwest Region of Cameroon. Blockade is baked in the shape of a square or rectangular block with 24 individual rolls (little cakes). It is this unique shape that gave the inspiration behind the naming of the bread as “Block Cakes.” In the market, consumers called the bread based on their own phonetics. Hence, the reason why the bread has multiple pronunciations (Blockade, Blockate, Blocket…) The thick layer, fluffy, sweet, butter flavor, and most importantly the affordable price of the bread fed people across generations. Back then, blockade was eaten in almost every house in the Southwest Region of Cameroon; particularly, in cities such as Tiko, Mutengene, Limbe, Buea, and Kumba where it was produced and distributed. It gained loyal customers (myself included) who attested to the bread being the ultimate savior from hunger.

During my last trip to Cameroon, I was privileged to take a tour in one of the local bakeries that is holding on to the production of blockade to continue the food culture across generations of Cameroonians. There, I witnessed in person the commercial production of Blockate. The mission of Keng's Kitchen is to become a leading culinary platform to contribute to the preservation, conservation and passing down of Cameroonian culture to the next generation. It gives me joy to experience and obtain the traditional recipe on how to make blockade as a younger generation. Therefore, freely was this culinary knowledge handed down to me and freely I passed it on across all generations of Cameroonians.