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The Africa Cookbook
In "The Africa Cookbook, " culinary historian and cookbook author Jessica B. Harris takes you on a tour of the Motherland, exploring the extraordinary diversity of the cuisines of the continent."The Africa Cookbook" features more than 200 traditional and contemporary recipes collected from home kitchens across Africa, including the familiar couscous of Morocco, the savory stews of the eastern grasslands, and the curries and chutneys of the Swahili coasts. From the sophisticated cuisine of Senegal to the creolized food of Mauritius and the Seychelles to the Afrikaner barbecues of South Africa, Harris presents the food of the continent and paints unforgettable portraits of the people who shared their culinary heritage with her. Illustrated with archival postcards from the author's collection, "The Africa Cookbook" celebrates countries whose contributions to the way we eat today have been too long ignored. Now home cooks can sample Potatoes with Mint Leaves and Garlic from Algeria or Senegal's classic Theibou Dienn. Spicy fried oysters with peanut sauce from Togo wakes up the palate, while Mango Cream from Cameroon cools the fire. Carrot Sambal from South Africa makes a piquant side dish, while Kedjenou (chicken stewed with tomato, onions, chile, garlic, and ginger) from C&3244;te d'Ivoire makes an intriguing main course.
A special section of menus using recipes from the book complete with suggestions for appropriate decor and music, makes it easy to plan a variety of African feasts. Harris also includes a glossary of ingredients and utensils, a selection of mail-order sources, and a list of more good reading on African foods.
A special section of menus using recipes from the book complete with suggestions for appropriate decor and music, makes it easy to plan a variety of African feasts. Harris also includes a glossary of ingredients and utensils, a selection of mail-order sources, and a list of more good reading on African foods.
400 pages, Hardcover
First published December 9, 1998
4 people are currently reading
409 people want to read
About the author
Jessica B. Harris
30 books237 followersAccording to Heritage Radio Network, there's perhaps no greater expert on the food and foodways of the African Diaspora than Doctor Jessica B. Harris. She is the author of twelve critically acclaimed cookbooks documenting the foods and foodways of the African Diaspora including Iron Pots and Wooden Spoons: Africa's Gifts to New World Cooking, Sky Juice and Flying Fish Traditional Caribbean Cooking, The Welcome Table: African American Heritage Cooking, The Africa Cookook: Tastes of a Continent, Beyond Gumbo: Creole Fusion Food from the Atlantic Rim. Harris also conceptualized and organized The Black Family Reunion Cook Book.Her most recent book, High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America, was the International Association for Culinary Professionals 2012 prize winner for culinary history.
In her more than three decades as a journalist, Dr. Harris has written book reviews, theater reviews, travel, feature, and beauty articles too numerous to note. She has lectured on African-American food and culture at numerous institutions throughout the United States and Abroad and has written extensively about the culture of Africa in the Americas, particularly the foodways. In the most recent edition of the Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, author John Mariani cites Harris as the ranking expert on African American Foodways in the country. An award winning journalist, Harris has also written in numerous national and international publications ranging from Essence to German Vogue. She's a contributing editor at Saveur and drinks columnist and contributing editor at Martha's Vineyard magazine. In 2012, she began a monthly radio show on Heritage Radio Network, My Welcome Table, that focuses on Food. Travel, Music, and Memoir.
Dr. Harris has been honored with many awards including a lifetime achievement award from the Southern Foodways Alliance (of which she is a founding member) and the Lafcadio Hearn award as a Louisiana culinary icon from The John Folse Culinary Academy at Louisiana's Nicholls State University. In 2010, she was inducted into the James Beard Who's Who of Food and Beverage in the United States.
Dr. Harris holds degrees from Bryn Mawr College, Queens College, New York, The Université de Nancy, France, and New York University. Dr. Harris was the inaugural scholar in residence in the Ray Charles Chair in African-American Material Culture at Dillard University in New Orleans where she established an Institute for the Study of Culinary Cultures. Dr. Harris has been a professor of English at Queens College/C.U.N.Y. for more than four decades. She is also a regular presenter at the annual Literary Festival in Oxford, England, a Patron of Oxford Gastronomica at Oxford/Brookes University in Oxford, England, and a consultant to the Lowcountry Rice Culture Project in South Carolina. She is currently at work developing a center for connecting culinary cultures in New Orleans.
In 2012, Dr. Harris was asked by the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture to conceptualize and curate the cafeteria of the new museum which is being built on the Mall in Washington DC that is scheduled to open in 2015 and is a member of the Kitchen Cabinet at the Smithsonian Museum of American History. The Heritage Radio Network sums her up saying, "Doctor Jessica B. Harris damn near knows it all when it comes to African and Caribbean cuisines and culinary history. She's a living legend". Harris lives in New York, New Orleans and Martha's Vineyard.
In her more than three decades as a journalist, Dr. Harris has written book reviews, theater reviews, travel, feature, and beauty articles too numerous to note. She has lectured on African-American food and culture at numerous institutions throughout the United States and Abroad and has written extensively about the culture of Africa in the Americas, particularly the foodways. In the most recent edition of the Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, author John Mariani cites Harris as the ranking expert on African American Foodways in the country. An award winning journalist, Harris has also written in numerous national and international publications ranging from Essence to German Vogue. She's a contributing editor at Saveur and drinks columnist and contributing editor at Martha's Vineyard magazine. In 2012, she began a monthly radio show on Heritage Radio Network, My Welcome Table, that focuses on Food. Travel, Music, and Memoir.
Dr. Harris has been honored with many awards including a lifetime achievement award from the Southern Foodways Alliance (of which she is a founding member) and the Lafcadio Hearn award as a Louisiana culinary icon from The John Folse Culinary Academy at Louisiana's Nicholls State University. In 2010, she was inducted into the James Beard Who's Who of Food and Beverage in the United States.
Dr. Harris holds degrees from Bryn Mawr College, Queens College, New York, The Université de Nancy, France, and New York University. Dr. Harris was the inaugural scholar in residence in the Ray Charles Chair in African-American Material Culture at Dillard University in New Orleans where she established an Institute for the Study of Culinary Cultures. Dr. Harris has been a professor of English at Queens College/C.U.N.Y. for more than four decades. She is also a regular presenter at the annual Literary Festival in Oxford, England, a Patron of Oxford Gastronomica at Oxford/Brookes University in Oxford, England, and a consultant to the Lowcountry Rice Culture Project in South Carolina. She is currently at work developing a center for connecting culinary cultures in New Orleans.
In 2012, Dr. Harris was asked by the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture to conceptualize and curate the cafeteria of the new museum which is being built on the Mall in Washington DC that is scheduled to open in 2015 and is a member of the Kitchen Cabinet at the Smithsonian Museum of American History. The Heritage Radio Network sums her up saying, "Doctor Jessica B. Harris damn near knows it all when it comes to African and Caribbean cuisines and culinary history. She's a living legend". Harris lives in New York, New Orleans and Martha's Vineyard.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
February 8, 2023
Books like these are rare these days - written by someone who has researched, traveled, learned, and cooked for years and telling stories and history along with the recipes.
There's 60 or so pages at the beginning that are very much worth the read. Ms. Harris recounts some of her travels to Africa and people she's met that have influenced her culinary adventures. She tells of the history and land, without getting pedantic (or boring).
This is a cookbook; tonight I tried two recipes exactly as they were written, and took inspiration from a third. All delicious and received rave reviews. Most of the recipes are quite simple, but I love this - it's a great reminder that sometimes the best food is not a complication of technique or seasonings, but rather taking good ingredients and cooking them the way they out to be cooked and appreciating the flavors they produce.
My only negative comment is for the actual publisher - the font is both small and incredibly light against the page. This is a bad combo for a cookbook.
There's 60 or so pages at the beginning that are very much worth the read. Ms. Harris recounts some of her travels to Africa and people she's met that have influenced her culinary adventures. She tells of the history and land, without getting pedantic (or boring).
This is a cookbook; tonight I tried two recipes exactly as they were written, and took inspiration from a third. All delicious and received rave reviews. Most of the recipes are quite simple, but I love this - it's a great reminder that sometimes the best food is not a complication of technique or seasonings, but rather taking good ingredients and cooking them the way they out to be cooked and appreciating the flavors they produce.
My only negative comment is for the actual publisher - the font is both small and incredibly light against the page. This is a bad combo for a cookbook.
August 3, 2017
After skimming this a few years ago, I finally got around to thoroughly re-reading it. Generally good, although I admit that I prefer the North African (Moroccan, Egyptian, Tunisian) and Ethiopian dishes. An interesting thing that I noticed is that once you get to the foods of Sub-Saharan Africa, the recipes either seem to be extremely simple (like 3-6 ingredients) or intensely complicated (I actually had to do a significant amount of hunting just to make the spice mix for the Nigerian Peppersoup (Nwa Nwa) – and I have an extensive (and fairly exotic) spice cabinet. Sadly, I also have to admit that some of the primary ingredients in many of the Subsaharan dishes (okra, yam,. cassava, goat) are low on my list of favorite foods.
May 21, 2023
Not just a cookbook but rather a mixture of history, culture, travel stories, and, yes, recipes. The recipes are from all of parts Africa and include notes about how the recipes have influenced dishes in other parts of the African diaspora. This was published in 1998 and it is interesting to note that (while a few ingredients are still rare) many of the ingredients that were once difficult, necessitating notes about how to mail order, are increasingly available in larger grocery stores. I do wish that she had listed alternate names for some of the harder to find ingredients since many are now available-- just not under the name that she used.
Quotes
“The dinner begins with a ewer of water passed by the daughter of the family so that guests can wash their hands in perfumed water. This is only natural, as forks and spoons will not appear. Hands and pieces of bread will be the ‘cutlery.’ (Right hand only, please! Don’t ask why).” p25
“The African continent has long been dubbed the Dark Continent. Needless to say, this appellation is incorrect. More appropriately, the landmass where man originated should be baptized the ‘Continent About Which We Are in the Dark.’ “ p46
"There are two main types of palm oil. The more familiar red palm oil brings its distinctive taste and hue…This red palm oil has even crossed the Atlantic to become one of the hallmarks of the cooking of Bahia, Brazil. The less familiar palm kernel oil is light tan and has an almost molasses-sweet smell. A seasoned version of the red type, called zomi, is also occasionally available…Those who are concerned about health issues involving eating of excessive saturated fats can moderate their palm oil intake by diminishing the amount of palm oil used and replacing it with another vegetable oil." p66
“I was also told that proper young ladies would never think of chewing kola and that they would never, under any circumstances, accept kola from someone who was not a close friend of the family. Well, all the admonitions were enough to get me going…I took a small nibble…They were just bitter. A second nibble confirmed that kola addiction was not in my future. Now I just smile and nod when listing to my friends warn their daughters of the evils of kola. They should just let them try some: I’ll take odds they’ll never want any more.” p112
“Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembene’s film Emitai portrays the life of the rice growers of the Casamance region of Senegal during the war. In it, the viewer is taken into the rice fields and watches as the grain, which is considered sacred by the people of the region, is planted and harvested. I’ve always felt that this film, with its theme of the corruption of pastoral society by the forces of war and modernization, is a microcosm of what’s happening to much of the traditional food and the traditional foodways of the continent…North, south, east, and west growing numbers of people are looking to Europe and America for dietary guidance rather than under their own noses. Roadrunner chickens are being replaced by plump cellophane-wrapped poulets morgues (morgue chickens), as they are called. Fresh fruit juices and infusions are replaced by the sugars and empty calories of soft drinks, and meat is taking over the plate as a sign of affluence…Emitai and moments from varying films on the continents—as well as recent works by African dietitians, nutritionists, and scholars—remind me that we are what we eat, and if we change what we eat, we may chance who we are…” p289
“…the best way to eat a ripe mango is naked and in the bathtub.” p300
Quotes
“The dinner begins with a ewer of water passed by the daughter of the family so that guests can wash their hands in perfumed water. This is only natural, as forks and spoons will not appear. Hands and pieces of bread will be the ‘cutlery.’ (Right hand only, please! Don’t ask why).” p25
“The African continent has long been dubbed the Dark Continent. Needless to say, this appellation is incorrect. More appropriately, the landmass where man originated should be baptized the ‘Continent About Which We Are in the Dark.’ “ p46
"There are two main types of palm oil. The more familiar red palm oil brings its distinctive taste and hue…This red palm oil has even crossed the Atlantic to become one of the hallmarks of the cooking of Bahia, Brazil. The less familiar palm kernel oil is light tan and has an almost molasses-sweet smell. A seasoned version of the red type, called zomi, is also occasionally available…Those who are concerned about health issues involving eating of excessive saturated fats can moderate their palm oil intake by diminishing the amount of palm oil used and replacing it with another vegetable oil." p66
“I was also told that proper young ladies would never think of chewing kola and that they would never, under any circumstances, accept kola from someone who was not a close friend of the family. Well, all the admonitions were enough to get me going…I took a small nibble…They were just bitter. A second nibble confirmed that kola addiction was not in my future. Now I just smile and nod when listing to my friends warn their daughters of the evils of kola. They should just let them try some: I’ll take odds they’ll never want any more.” p112
“Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembene’s film Emitai portrays the life of the rice growers of the Casamance region of Senegal during the war. In it, the viewer is taken into the rice fields and watches as the grain, which is considered sacred by the people of the region, is planted and harvested. I’ve always felt that this film, with its theme of the corruption of pastoral society by the forces of war and modernization, is a microcosm of what’s happening to much of the traditional food and the traditional foodways of the continent…North, south, east, and west growing numbers of people are looking to Europe and America for dietary guidance rather than under their own noses. Roadrunner chickens are being replaced by plump cellophane-wrapped poulets morgues (morgue chickens), as they are called. Fresh fruit juices and infusions are replaced by the sugars and empty calories of soft drinks, and meat is taking over the plate as a sign of affluence…Emitai and moments from varying films on the continents—as well as recent works by African dietitians, nutritionists, and scholars—remind me that we are what we eat, and if we change what we eat, we may chance who we are…” p289
“…the best way to eat a ripe mango is naked and in the bathtub.” p300
January 10, 2008
Fascinating, if not necessarily practical. Many of the recipes do use readily available ingredients, but equally many call for unfamiliar, hard-to-find greens and palm oil. I loved reading it, with the background, varying cultures, and Ms. Harris' personal stories, but I rarely use it.
April 28, 2018
No photos is always a no go for me when it comes to recipes. The recipes did not sound tasty, but more than that there was a surfeit of page occupying add this to that and you’ll have a new dish. No you won’t. It will just be a variant of what came before. Disappointing.
April 20, 2023
This cookbook is huge and full of tons of different recipes. The author even includes some suggested menu plans for specific countries, complete with ideas for decorating and music selections. While there are recipes from all over Africa, it is dominated by West African recipes with other regions sort of scattered throughout here and there.
I've made a handful of these recipes, and they've turned out very nicely. The recipes are pretty simple, so I think it's a good book for people who don't have a whole lot of experience cooking, although there are no pictures of the food.
I've made a handful of these recipes, and they've turned out very nicely. The recipes are pretty simple, so I think it's a good book for people who don't have a whole lot of experience cooking, although there are no pictures of the food.
June 19, 2021
Its Juneteenth and this book bombarded me: first the wrong size of the African continent(Us is 32% of compared to African continent) and the other facts or the actual truth left behind world without knowing. Recipes are too turned away from knowing. So sad.
November 15, 2018
This will be a great reference for the future but I could have really used some inspiring photos of the dishes.
September 7, 2023
Excellent array of African dishes, drinks and even music, good bibliography behind these careful selection of recipes. It surprised me that Africans eat a lot of vegetables and fried goods.
June 6, 2009
I would give it more stars... because I love this cookbook... But we really only use one or two recipes from it lol.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews