Middletown African Market November 22, 2013

Hello Friends and Happy Fri-Yay!

In today’s Friday Foodie I am featuring the Grand Opening of the Middletown African Market located on 725 North Broad Street. Owners Abena Mansah and Kwaku Duah are recent transplants from the Bronx, by way of Ghana.  In partnership with other family members they also owned an African Market in Yonkers, NY.

During their many visits to family and friends in Delaware they were often asked to load up the car with food items to bring with them. These visits also highlighted the need for a place to purchase authentic African and Caribbean foodstuff.  However, in not finding anyone who was interested in doing so they decided to take a leap of faith and left New York to open the Middletown African Market in the Middletown Square Shopping Center.

Abena and Kwaku along with their son came to visit Delaware, fell in love with Middletown and never left, “we love it here”, says Abena, “the people are friendly and the school district is wonderful”.

The Middletown African Market hopes to meet the needs of the large African population in Delaware so they no longer need to travel to Philadelphia or as far north as New York.  The Market’s shelves are fully stocked with African and Caribbean food items, clothing, music, movies, jewelry, beauty and novelty items.

Freezers are stocked with smoked fish, turkey, chicken, beef, cassava and other root vegetables.  Long shelves contain canned meats, fruits, vegetables, bags of rice, wheat, potatoes, dry beans and snack foods. Authentic oils, spices, canned goods as well as fresh Sweet Yams and Plantains are available.

Kente Cloth, Waist Beads, Kufis, and beauty products including lotions with Shea Butter and Coconut Oil, Black Soap, shampoos and conditioners are neatly displayed across the back shelves.

Saturday’s Grand Opening was both exciting and lively with many customers, both African and non-African shopping, sharing and filling their baskets with food items to be used for Sunday’s dinner.  

Middletown African Market accepts all major credit cards, EBT and is open Monday to Saturday, 9:00 am to 8:00 p.m., closed on Sunday.

Abena offered to teach me to cook a few authentic African meals, so expect to see them showcased in a future Friday Foodie Features.

 Have a wonderful day – Smooches!