The kitchen's hot, why not get out and savor some summer reading on African food and culture? Try anthropologist Karen Flynn's sobering Food, Culture and Survival in an African City (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005) about life on the streets of Mwanza, Tanzania (you can see my review in Food, Culture and Society). Another gem I'm reading now is Boston University historian James McCann's fascinating Maize and Grace: Africa's Encounter with a New World Crop 1500-2000 (Harvard University Press, 2005). A more general book is Betty Fussell's classic, fun The Story of Corn: The Myths and History, the Culture and Agriculture, the Art and Science of America's Quintessential Crop (Knopf, 1992). Next on my to-read list is Edmund Abaka's Kola is God's Gift: Agricultural Production, Export Initiatives & the Kola Indusstry of Asante & the Gold Coast c1820-1950 (Ohio Univ. Press, James Currey, and Woeli Publishing Services, 2005). What are you reading?
