African-Caribbean Food Market – Man Must Wak

547 8^th Street (corner of 8^th & Clay)
Oakland, CA 94 607

I was pretty excited to check this place out after looking up a wealth of African recipes to try cooking recently. My great-​aunt is in town for her annual visit from Nigeria and can’t resist reminding me every two seconds that «dis food nut fa’ us» as she looks at the deteriorating state of nutrition and clucks her tongue at every haphazard, hyperpalatable option available. Anyway, she got me thinking maybe I should try out some new r ecipes, but a lot of what I looked up called for ingredients I couldn’t pronounce, let alone find. It just so happened that I was leaving Mexicali Rose on Monday night when I saw a beautiful piece of art I couldn’t resist taking a picture of. Stepping closer, I realized the mural was on the side of the shop’s building and decided to peek inside.
The smell was the first thing that greeted me, and unfortunately for my sensitive nose it wasn’t a good one. However, the stuff inside kept me interested and I love supporting small, Black-​owned businesses so I had a look around for just a few minutes until I realized I was running late to an appointment. In the span of time I spent, I saw produce, plenty of different flours and staples like kola nuts and palm oil. There were dry goods items near the refrigerators that I believe housed meat. All in all, a decent stock indeed.

Founds good deals!

Time: 1:07pm
Purpose: Took a stroll after lunch had some time to kill.
Set-​up: Grocery&household items
Staff: An older Asian lady may have been korean with a younger girl could daughter. The mother didn’t speak much because of language barrier. So I ask the daughther what they specialized in? She was very knowledgeable about every item she sold.
Cleanliness: Looks like one of those shops in the movies were it’s rundown but yet carries healthy products.
Eats: Couple of koala nuts $ 19.99 a pound, the famous Jamaican beer $ 1.99 a bottle, gum $.99
Products: African fruits, veggies, candies, dried fruits, pies, beauty, medicine supplies etc.
Punch Line: Easy parking, walkable from downtown, rare never seem before goods, a little history while in there.
Final Thoughts: I was expecting the owner would be African decent with traditional dress and headwear but instead a duo of korean mom and daughter. Nothing wrong with that just made me thinking if they’re the original owners and how did they decided to get into the business. We might not know that it’s one of those shops behind the scenes type.

This store is not as stocked as the specialty store next door but it is equally as pleasing. The items that they carry are good quality and they also carry movies (although limited in supply). The attendants were quite attentive and were willing to answer questions. The prices seemed a little bit lower than next door. You’ll probably end up going into both stores and making purchases from both places.

Man Must Wak is conveniently located close to me. I love that there is an African food store in my neighborhood. Whenever I go, I get welcomed with pleasant customer service. The products are what I expect, no surprises. Great plus whever they have African music playing in the background.
My only gripe is sometimes the vegetables are not fresh i.e. mushy onions and soft old looking peppers on occasion. Not a big deal as I generally shop at Farmers Markets for produce. But it sucks whenever I need it in emergency.
I’ll be coming back to Man Must Wak for goat meat and other standard needs.

ACFM’s motto «man must walk» is a nigerian saying man must eat to survive.
ACFM is a small store jam packed with african food products and carribbean spices.
items all neatly stacked and priced.
pour: spotted spicy jamaican ginger beer (1.99) in fridge.
–made with cane sugar and artificial flavors
–tasted good, refreshing.
notes:
–friendly cashier said «be safe» when i left.
-‘thanx, you too” i replied.

This store has the craziest things for sale. I have no idea what any of it is. Luckily, everyone is super helpful and they can tell you what to do with whatever it is.

After driving for over 2hrs **really!!** in search of palm oil-​I had resolved to go home and make my dish without it, crossing my fingers and saying a prayer that no one would notice… I turned the corner and as if my mouth were pressed to God’s ear there was African-​Caribbean food mrkt… with shelves of palm oil!!! I was ecstatic!!!
Of course the young man at the counter, who was very pleasant, couldn’t understand my jubilation over palm oil.
I ended up getting so much more than palm oil as they are well stocked in many items I’ve yet to see anywhere else in Oakland… with the exception of Minto’s Market on Broadway/​41^st St (**yes I have to get a plug in for Minto’s-:)
This market has found a new and dedicated customer!
P. S. My dinner was wonderful!

Everyone was so helpful!
I will return for more of these ingredients.
Hard to find roots, vegetables and meats are plentiful here!
Convenient location.

I ve shopped here for well over 4 years and I love this place. Anything you might crave from the motherland can be found here and by that I include the amazing customer service and friendly staff. Now you wont need to have cousins carry heavy boxes from Nigeria to get your Kola nut. Just ass KayKay and if they dont have it. They will get it for you!

I love this place for all the things that I cannot buy anywhere else. Fufu flour? no idea what it is, but I’m going to have a great time finding out what I can make with it.

I have been going to African-​Caribbean Food Market for long time, way back when it was Man must wak, I’ve always got what I’m looking for so it’s always my first choice place to go, also I like the new look and more spacious, love the meat pie, try it if you’ve never had it.

I thought I’d be the first to review this joint. I mean really, how many folks hang out outside of the Old Oakland block? Well, quite a few apparently. I didn’t actually buy anything from here, but for a girl who has not yet visited the Motherland, it was quite a feast for the eyes. A whole slew of African (probably mostly West African) food products. Palm Nut oil, fufu flour, Nigerian beans, dried fish, meat pies, spices galore. This little market inspires me to do a little more culinary research into west African cooking. They also sell various DVDs that you’d probably have a hard time finding anywhere else.

A few months ago, for a family wedding, I had folks visiting from all over the planet including a contingent from Nigeria. Mama Kaykay and her crew did the catering for us and it was awesome! She made suya, puff-​puff, fried goat-​meat, moi-​moi, scotch-​eggs and various other snacks that we used to entertain the guests! They delivered on time and everything, especially the suya was a resounding success! My uncles loved the latter so much, they had me make separate trips to get them more for the «duration» of their stay! Now that’s genuine props!
5 Stars!!!

I have been here a few times and everytime I have come, the Ting is in the fridge. The patties are excellent, as a matter of fact, I need to go and get some.
Just called to see if they have rum cakes and they are out! This is the only carribean market I know of in the east bay, they definitely don’t have one where I live. It’s worth the drive.

So my landlord asks me if I have ever had a soda called Ting with a devilish grin… Yes I have but its been a while. He proceeds to tell me that there is a market near by that has it and how good it is.
I was thirsty and an ice cold Ting sounded like a great idea. Funny, this market doesn’t carry Ting and the lady behind the counter had no idea what I was talking about!
What they do carry are all sorts of Island bottled sodas including some really great ginger beers. They also carry meat pies but they weren’t ready when I was in there… next time!