Back to Work: updates

Hello, friends. I'm freshly back from the break I took after my recipe writing marathon of June and July. I hope you all had some times of re-creation and renewal during the past few months. Our family just shared a few relaxing days in Virginia: husband Kwadwo (and me) from State College, PA; son DK on vacation from Anam New City in Nigeria; daughter Masi (and her friend Inza) from New York City; sons/nephews Sam and Ernest from Lansdale, PA; daughter Abena and her husband Koranteng from Berkeley, CA, and the star of the whole vacation, sweet little 5-month old granddaughter Kumiwah.

I'm now back in my office. The Fall issue of Gastronomica just arrived in my mailbox. It includes my review of James McCann's  Stirring the Pot: A History of African Cuisine.

Today and tomorrow I'm preparing for a tasting seminar at Penn State on Wed., August 24 "Africa's Place at the Global Table: Celebrating Africa's Cuisines" as part of their Africa2Ag week that kicks off today.

In December I have a couple of events scheduled so far:

Thursday, December 8: Catering an African meal for a Penn State class on African Women Writers

Sunday, December 11:  "Kinsase akidibua na bantu (Delicious meals are best eaten communally): Cuisine and Culture in Central Africa." A seminar introducing Central African cuisines and food cultures, exploring influences on them, differences and similarities in ingredients, cooking techniques, equipment, and flavor principles, followed by an opportunity to sample several dishes. This will be in conjunction with an upcoming exhibit on "Weaving Abstraction: Kuba Textiles and the Woven Art of Central Africa."

For now, it's back to the kitchen. . .

African Cookbook Project

I recently returned from a trip to the West Coast of the U.S. While there I took the opportunity to stop by one of my favorite bookstores, Powell's in Portland, Oregon, where I picked up a 1971 book published by Dell and called The Art of African Cooking--The Original "Soul Food": 307 recipes from the new African nations. Or, as the cover promises "307 exotic recipes from the first ladies of the new African nations." I've been unable to trace compiler  Sandy Lesberg, except to see that she (he?) was fairly prolific in the 1960s and 1970s, and continued to produce in the 1980s, mostly compilations like this one, often about food, restaurants, or places, or retelling other's stories. At any rate, this unpretentious little book (214 pages, paperback) is interesting historically. It seems Lesberg faithfully included the recipes she was given by various dignitaries, and often did not try to interpret them (e.g., a recipe for Ghanaian  akple calls for 2 cups soured corn dough, fermented [seems redundant, doesn't it] and 1/2 lb. cassava dough, without explaining how one is to obtain such items). While it's not directly written by Africans, I'm still including it on my shelf.

I've also added another reference book. I was delighted when Boston historian James Mcann's book on the history of maize in Africa came out in 2005. He now has another addition to African culinary history, called Stirring the Pot: A History of African Cuisine, part of Ohio University Press' Africa in World History Series. Check out my review in an upcoming issue of Gastronomica (hint: I recommend the book).