Ethiopian injera features spicy stews served atop tangy fermented bread.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Sibanda, who has lived in China for six years, served a "road-runner" stew called nkukhu makhaya, which translates as "chicken from your rural home".

"A good welcome when you visit a Zimbabwean family is that they slaughter a chicken for you to make a good traditional stew," he says.

He also presented homemade umqombothi, an alcoholic drink concocted using maize, yeast and sorghum malt fermented for a week.

Sudanese chef Limya Adam, who has lived in China for nearly seven years, prepared salata salad made with pureed eggplant with peanut butter and cumin.

Kenyan chef Khadija Osman, who has been in China for three years, presented sambusa, triangular pastries stuffed with meat or vegetables that were served with afiza, an Ethiopian green-lentil salad drizzled with lemon vinaigrette, as starters.

Entrees were Sibanda's Zimbabwean stew served with pap, a cornmeal porridge thick enough to shape, and injera by Ethiopian chef Abenet Belay, who has lived in China for nearly seven years.