The Ghana Cookbook pre-order prices: Amazon vs. Barnes and Noble

Friends: I just noticed that while Amazon.com in the U.S. offers a descriptive blurb about The Ghana Cookbook and pre-order prices of $16.57 (a 17% discount),  Barnes and Noble online is offering pre-orders of The Ghana Cookbook for $14.95 (a 25% discount). 

If you plan to buy a copy, please be advised that this first issue (due out in early October) will be a small print run. If you want to be sure to get a copy, consider getting your order in sooner rather than later. (This could make a great hostess, Christmas, or Kwanzaa gift for someone special on your list.)


Coming soon: a recipe that will not be in the cookbook: benisi from northern Ghana. It uses shea butter and young black-eyed pea leaves. Does anyone know where I might find some of these leaves, fresh and tender, in central Pennsylvania? Otherwise, I will substitute baby spinach leaves.

Pierre Thiam on the move in Lagos

I cringe every time I am offered ice cream in Ghana that is flavored by strawberries or cherries or other imported ingredients. Some day West Africans will favor locally available ingredients to make delicious indigenous versions. In Northern Ghana an entrepreneur once enthused to me about her corn-flavored ice cream.

That day may be coming sooner rather than later in Lagos, Nigeria, where coconut and lime-flavored ice cream is planned for the menu of the the fabulous Lagos center designed by famed British-Ghanaian architect David Adjaye.

Anyone who cares about African cuisine knows (or should know) about Senegalese chef and cultural ambassador  Pierre Thiam, the former owner of Yolele and Le Grand Dakar restaurants and author of 2 Senegalese cookbooks. He's recently been in the news as the culinary force behind the recipes to be served at a new luxurious Lagos, Nigeria, store and restaurant . I'm happy to know about this new venture and wish them wonderful success.