Chef Selassie ... She uses her food to advocate for sustainable agriculture and showcase the power of the African kitchen. This is her recipe: The fire is lit. The pot simmers, whispering stories ...

Hotel Theresa, where the chef here is gonna feed 300 people in two hours, making 80 pounds of biryani in that big pot over there. All right, this is the ceremonial lighting of the fire.

I selected this pot because it conjures up images of men gathered around a cooking fire at night eating meals together and sharing stories.

Originating in medieval Europe, where peasants slow-cooked whatever tough pieces of meat were available over a fire ... cook pot roast to get that fall-apart tender meat. According to chef ...

For centuries in France, families who subsisted on little, made pot au feu (literally pot on the fire) a dish of boiled ... been in the pot for one hour. I cook small golden potatoes separately ...