I'd like to know why you think African, especially Sub-Saharan African, cooking has historically been so devalued and ignored by the West, especially the U.S.? I have my own ideas, which I'll share later, but I'd like to know what people think. Is it simply ignorance, a result of media (e.g., images of the "dark continent") and racism, or what? Most of the writing on African food relates more to food insecurity, malnutrition and poverty, unfair markets and export crop issues, than to African cuisine and gastronomy.

As many of you know, spam has been interrupting our conversations for some time now. Since the BETUMI FORUM and my journal were actually forerunners of today's blogs, today (Feb. 7, 2006) it seems natural to set up a BETUMI BLOG. This should be much less complicated than the discussion board we tried earlier.

I hope you saw Lydia Polgreen's acticle in the dining out section of the NY Times (A Taste of Ghana), Wed., Feb. 1, 2006 on street food in Ghana. If not, you can register for free at NYTimes.com and search for it. Candice Feit's accompanying photos are great, too.

This is just a brief post to inaugurate the new board. Can't wait to hear from folks.