by TM Petaccia

Chef Ammalu Saleh has taken a long path, both geographically and professionally, to share the dishes of her homeland Tanzania with Charlotte palates. In October, Serengeti Kitchen opened at City Kitch in West Charlotte, followed by a stall at The Market of 7th Street, with a menu of traditional East African cuisine combined with a few creative twists.

“I appreciate the whole thing of this,” she says. “Even though it’s a business, I love that I’m able to connect cultures through food because that’s what I do.”

Born in Tanzania, Saleh grew up in England before joining her husband in Charlotte in 2013. “I got the inspiration of cooking from my mother,” Saleh says. “She was doing office work, but she was also a caterer. So I helped a lot in the kitchen. But that’s just our culture, we just cook a lot. There is food in the house all the time. People just come in; they don’t have to tell you in advance ‘I’m coming’ or anything. We just love to feed people. I learned a lot from my mother.”

Despite her passion for cooking, going into the food business was not her original plan. “I really wanted to be a police officer,” she says. “I got a criminology degree and a master’s in business administration. I worked as a clinical case manager; I love dealing with and helping people.”

But it was needing a bit of help herself that led her back to cooking for others. “After my fourth child was born, I got serious postpartum depression. It took a toll on me. I gained a lot of weight. So I was like, ‘I need help.’

Saleh sought out a friend who has a pharmacy and also runs a wellness program. “I have cooked for my friend before,” she says. “My friend said, ‘I know you’re a good cook. I can help you with your weight loss, but would you be willing to cook for my clients as well? Most of them have a very busy schedule.’ I said, yes, I can do that. I used my techniques, my spices and other ingredients and turned them into something healthy. For example, I made biryani and pilau rice using cauliflower rice. The customers told me, ‘We can’t believe this is healthy.’ So that’s how it all started.”

From cooking for wellness patients, Saleh expanded to basic catering and selling meals at area farmers markets, originally under the name Goodly Eating before transitioning to Serengeti Kitchen. She also did several pop-up events, many with Eh’vivi chef Awo Amenumey.

She then participated in Charlotte Center City Partners’ Hub for Inclusivity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship (HIIVE) program — a nine-week small business educational program focused on providing an educational curriculum and offering space to food and retail businesses. As a result, Serengeti Kitchen had a brief popup period at The Market at 7th Street.

“That turned out really well,” Saleh says. “The customers enjoyed our offerings there. Our sales did very well. 7th Street is a wonderful place where I had the opportunity to meet my customers face-to-face and explain Tanzanian cuisine to them. Getting that opportunity showed me that I’m capable of doing this. I decided to take the big step. I said to myself, ‘I need to get a space where I can continue offering my food, Tanzanian cuisine, to my customers.'”

The new City Kitch space is designed for takeout, but it has a communal dining area shared with other vendors. The Market at 7th Street space is in the former Mano Bella location.

Saleh describes Tanzanian cuisine as “indigenous Bantu cooking heavily influenced by Indian and Arabian cuisine. This is due to the fact that during the colonized time, when the British came, they brought the Indians, and the Indians brought their cooking style. Also, as a matter of trade and business with Arab nations, their cuisine was added to our culture as well.”

Among the dishes she highlights are chicken and vegan Swahili plates, which include coconut rice, collards, cabbage, coconut pinto beans, and sweet fried plantains — as well as slow-cooked lamb, samosas (traditional beef and a Philly cheesesteak version), chapati, and chapati wraps. There are also some halal offerings.

“People have all been curious,” Saleh says. “They want to learn about my Tanzanian food. That means a lot to us.”