Mamadou and Bokolo work for Paris’s waste collection service. One day, while emptying a bin, they discover the antique cookbook, Monographie de la cuisine, a culinary bible filled with French recipes and rules about table etiquette. Unlike the French butcher, who couldn’t care less about the book and tosses it in the bin along with the meat scraps, Mamadou is fascinated, sharing the best recipes and most outrageous facts with his friends. He lives with his colleagues in cramped, windowless quarters furnished only with bunkbeds and a table, where they eat, argue and joke together. Despite the precarious conditions, it’s a warm and welcoming place where everyone looks out for each other. The community’s biggest concern is Boko, who is seriously ill and has only one wish: to return home. To raise money for a ticket, the men decide to enter a TV gourmet quiz show – armed with their newfound culinary expertise.
Sarah Maldoror’s unreserved sympathy for the group sustains the film, which exposes everyday racism with sardonic humour. She makes fun of the French obsession with haute cuisine and other bourgeois attitudes, while celebrating West African culture and traditions through contrasting imagery and a vibrant soundtrack – a deeply moving tribute to the solidarity of the African diaspora in Paris.

Guest: Annouchka de Andrade