Alert on Autographed Book Labels

This is just a quick update for those of you who wish to receive the autographed book labels  of The Ghana Cookbook signed by both myself and Barbara. I should have mentioned that the signed labels  are only 4 inches by 2 inches (about 51 mm by 102 mm)  and fit easily into a small normal envelope, with regular first class postage (49 cents in the U.S.). There is no need to send an oversized self-addressed envelope.

Thank you, and I apologize for not making this clear to those of you who have already requested them.

1 year anniversary

Happy 2017! 

As you may have noticed, we have been silent online at Betumi: the African Culinary Network for the last 7+ months.

After

Our life has been anything but quiet: after the excitement and drama of The Ghana Cookbook's debut at the end of 2015, followed by  a flurry of travel (Ghana, Brazil, and back to Ghana), we (Kwadwo and I) returned to our U.S. home in early August to discover a broken water hose had been flooding much of the house for over 2 months. The house was a disaster, and had to be gutted, remediated, and rebuilt.

Before

We spent months cooking  in a microwave in our upstairs bathroom and eating on a card table in our upstairs bedroom while the restoration of offices, the laundry/mud room, kitchen, dining room, and much of the basement continued. It was a difficult time, compounded by a car accident and cancer scare.

On top of everything else, there was the US election, which was its own story.

As of Friday, January 20th, the green dumpster has  finally been removed, the last worker packed up his tools, and I'm back at my computer.  Let me belatedly remind everyone how thrilled Barbara and I have been at the reception of The Ghana Cookbook, and how pleased we were to have it awarded the 2016 Gourmand World Cookbook Award for the "Best African Cookbook Published Outside of Africa." Thank you for all the word-of-mouth marketing that has kept it on Amazon's African cookbook best-seller list throughout 2016 and into 2017.

What lies ahead in this new year? I plan to first share some interesting conversations I had in Ghana with a couple of young entrepreneurs from Ghana's Ashesi University. 

LA, PA, and Ghana Videos from the Launch

The International Association of Culinary Professionals Conference (IACP) in Los Angeles California April 1-3, 2016 was a celebration of good food from around the world, and focused on changing communications in the culinary world. I was happy to represent Ghana (Note the Made-in Ghana-apron). For the first time since I've been attending, I met a sub-Saharan African (Nigerian) colleague! 

          

My next signing event will be at the University Club on the Penn State Campus from 8 a.m. to noon, Saturday April 23, 2016 at a half day conference sponsored by State College's own Smart, Creative + Interconnected women's group.
See the website for more information. I'd love to see you there.

Finally, I'm happy to announce that some of the speeches from January's Ghana launch of The Ghana Cookbook  are now available online. Here's the first one from BETUMI's playlist.

All of the videos Barbara Baeta had uploaded from that day (including among others Barbara's remarks about the fascinating history of Flair Catering, my irrepressible husband, Prof. K. Osseo-Asare making outrageous remarks, journalist and former minister of state, Elizabeth Ohene, and  Rev. Dr. Joyce Aryee [also a former minister of state]), are available at http://bit.ly/1Wnwm5x (Incidentally, I still can't believe I said some Akans might claim they eat soup and fufu "for breakfast," when I meant "every day." Oops.)

The Ghana Cookbook News

To my Los Angeles, California, friends: I'll be attending the IACP Conference this weekend (April 1-3, 2016) in Hollywood, and would love to see any foodies (especially African food lovers) Sunday night at the "Creative Showcase" open to the public. 

In other news, The Ghana Cookbook, is shortlisted for the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards (best African cookbook published outside of Africa). The winners will be announced in Yantai, China May 28-29, 2016, at the Gourmand Awards ceremony. Also, The Ghana Cookbook was just submitted to Les Dames d'Escoffier International for consideration of their MFK Fisher Award for Excellence in Culinary Writing. Will keep you posted.

I continue to be immensely grateful for all of the word-of-mouth publicity that you have given to help bring recognition to this book and keep sales up.

Big Blue Marble Bookstore Revisited

Folks have been telling me they had a great time in Philadelphia last Sunday, and I agree. Thank you to everyone who showed up. My camera got passed around a bit, but near the end of the event it stopped recording folks who came when we had standing room only. 

We began with a discussion of Akan day names, a couple of demonstrations using volunteers from the audience (how to open a coconut, how to peel a plantain and make

plantain strips/chips). 

Later, a volunteer agreed to try his hand at rolling out dough and making twisted cookies (atwemo,  atsomo).

Along the way folks sampled both the chips and the atwemo, along with hibiscus iced tea (bissap, zobo, sobolo) and ginger beer. We also talked about Ghana's answer to couscous (gari), and sampled 2 versions of a Ghanaian one-pot called gari foto (classic, with corned beef) and contemporary (vegetarian). We tasted fresh coconut, and I shared some failed "coconut cakes" that were made with too little coconut. Along the way, we discussed stories behind the cookbook, and the challenge to get it published. It was wonderful to have family support from the Philadelphia area (adopted nephews Sam and Ernest and my sister-in-law Phyllis ("Sister Amma"). Neighbors and colleagues, African friends, and other local people helped swell the crowd. As noted elsewhere, appreciation of West African cuisine is on the rise in the U.S.!

Thank you to everyone who pitched in to help with plating the food, serving, assigning day names, cleanup, etc. My sincere apologies that the bookstore did not have not enough books to go around. Remember, they are available at a discount at Amazon. Here are a few more photos:

Next event? At the International Association of Culinary Professionals conference in Los Angeles in early April. Stay tuned for more details as they become available.

Cookbook Event in Philadelphia Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016

Getting ready to leave Saturday for Philadelphia. Busy making plantain and taro chips, ginger beer and hibiscus iced tea (bissap/zobo/sobolo), "twisted cakes," and 2 versions of gari foto (cassava meal one-pot), plus cracking open coconuts. All recipes direct from my latest book, The Ghana Cookbook. Come join us Sunday at the Big Blue Marble bookstore, 1-3 p.m. Food, fun, stories, and a West African cultural and culinary experience for the whole family. 

More press for The Ghana Cookbook

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, here are a few more links to positive articles about the recent launch in Ghana of The Ghana Cookbook.

The first link is to an  article by BBC journalist and former minister of state Elizabeth Ohene, who also spoke at the launch in Accra. It includes insightful comments on "cooking by book."

Another article was recently published in Ghana's Business and Financial Times:

Finally, it was also picked up for a post  by the "obroni" head librarian at Ashesi University, Nina Chachu.

1 Day to go until the launch

I squeaked by the blizzard on the eastern U.S. by a few hours and made it safely to Ghana last Friday. I've been working with Barbara to coordinate the Ghana launch of The Ghana Cookbook, but she and her catering staff are handling the lion's share of the publicity and all of the food preparation. It looks to be a grand event.
 
I spent part of the day today at Flair, helping (just a little) with the behind-the-scenes work preparing for the launch on Thursday. That involved, among other things, pre-signing the almost 200 books that will be available there, getting my outfit adjusted (Barbara and I will wear matching outfits). Also, helping sort books and providing general moral support.

It should be a vibrant, lively day worthy of Ghana's culinary heritage. I'm very grateful for the opportunity Barbara and I have had to work together. A bit nervous about how it will play out, but mostly excited. Hard to believe it's actually happening, and the stir it's causing!
 
Here are a few pre-launch photos. We were interviewed for a brief segment to air the day of the launch, Jan. 28, at 8:30 a.m. Ghana time, on TV3. We're still wondering exactly how many folks will turn up. Stay tuned for more photos and a summary of the event.

Anyone who is interested in Ghana's cuisine and around tomorrow afternoon  (Jan. 28, 2016, 3:30 p.m. at Flair Catering), feel free to stop by. It's a rare chance to get books autographed by both authors.

 

2 more Ghana Cookbook sightings

It's fun and exciting to see our child going off on its own into the world and making history in a modest way this holiday season. Here are a couple more sightings:

South African Michael Dewsnap, Chef at the Golden Tulip Restaurant in Accra, Ghana, holding his copy:

And Surama King, originally from Minas Gerais in Brazil (I've written previously about some of the links between Brazilian and West African cuisines) and currently married to a Ghanaian.

It's truly thrilling to receive notes from folks as you receive copies. Many of you have sent emails or posted on facebook, but there's no substitute for seeing your faces. Truly this book is getting noticed, not by any big advertising campaign, or media hype, but ordinary people like us, letting the world know about Ghana's world class cuisine one by one!

I'm also happy to announce that The Ghana Cookbook has already (in less than 2 months) had to go into its second printing. Yay! 

On finding West African ingredients

It's exciting to see North Americans (and Europeans) embracing West African food! Unfortunately, many of us do not live in large urban areas where we can easily locate some of the unfamiliar ingredients. Last week I made a trip to our local international market here in State College, Pennsylvania, for a spontaneous, quick runthrough of some items locally available. I was rushing, and missed many things (like cream of palm fruit aka palm butter) in the store and also cannot believe some of the words that came out of my mouth, such as saying "coconut paste" when I meant "groundnut (peanut) paste," and holding some Ga kenkey and saying it is fermented corn dough rather than that it is made from steamed fermented corn dough (with a bit of cassava dough, too). I spoke about "dried fish powder" when it would have been better to say "dried flaked fish/shrimp."

Still, I hope you find it helpful, especially if you are exploring recipes from The Ghana Cookbook.

And remember, too, that as North American tastes are changing, it is getting easier and easier to find many of these ingredients in local supermarkets, from millet flour to fresh coconut to red palm oil to taro (Ghanaians call it "cocoyam") to plantains or fresh papaya. I find many of them in our local Wegman's, Giant, Trader Joe's, Weis, or even Wal-Mart.
(Hint: there's a recipe in the book that calls for smoked turkey, which is only available around here at Christmas, so this time of year might be a good time to try it out!)


                                                                           
Note: Thank you to students Nick Weis and Jessica Stefanowiz, both from Happy Valley Communications for running video and helping set up, respectively, and for owner Jin Zhou for allowing us to film in The International Market

Barbara Baeta busy in Accra

News Flash!  I'm pleased and excited to announce that the first official copies of The Ghana Cookbook have landed on Ghana's soil! Here Barbara Baëta shows one off. She is busily making arrangements for its African launch in Ghana at Flair in January.

Update on The Ghana Cookbook Saga

Since our book was released in November, it's been a busy few weeks. As I mentioned then in an article on the TED Fellows channel of medium.com my love affair with Ghana and its food has deep roots. 

Sunday, Dec. 6,   an article by Anne Quinn Corr appeared in our local paper, The Centre Daily Times, about The Ghana Cookbook, filling in some background and why I'm so passionate about celebrating Ghana's cuisine and culture. I was thrilled to see the article noticed by the U.S. Embassy in Ghana, and also Mission Economique des Pays-Bas en Côte d'Ivoire. Going global, here! 

       
          
That was followed in the afternoon by an event at our local independent bookstore, Webster's Bookstore and Cafe.

It was fun to have volunteers from the packed house try their hand at peeling a green plantain and slicing strips, or cracking open a coconut, and we even had owner Elaine demonstrate (as instructed) how to make atwemo/atsomo (aka "twisted cakes"), while folks were sipping ginger beer or hibiscus iced tea (bissap/zobo/sobolo) or lemongrass tea, or snacking on akara (black-eyed pea fritters) with a peanut pumpkin dipping sauce/stew, or trying out a red bean stew with smoked fish, and coconut rice, or Ghana's yummy cassava one-pot dish called "gari foto"(aka "gari jollof"). I was somewhat surprised how many people showed up because of the gluten-free aspect of Ghana's cuisine.

Whew! It was a ton of work, but the audience was super enthusiastic. I would have been lost without the help my Happy Valley Communications team plating and handing out food and drinks, helping people discover their "day names," and still finding time to tweet during the event (@ghanacookbook). Once again, they were great! Also,  the staff at Webster's was wonderful in providing help with setting up and taking down.
 
In January I head to Accra, where Barbara Baëta and I will properly launch the book in Ghana at Flair Catering. We're having trouble keeping the guest list trimmed to a manageable size (Which Barbara says is 500). 

So much fun after so much work!

I also heard today from the publisher at Hippocrene Books that they may soon have to reprint the book as the first printing appears to be selling out! Great news.
Sincere thanks to each of you who has been helping to spread the news via word-of-mouth, twitter, and other social media. I look forward to hearing how you find the recipes.

(P.S. Please don't put off getting your holiday copies.)

More on the story behind the book

This week to celebrate The Ghana Cookbook's  arrival, I shared a bit more on medium.com's TED Fellows channel about the saga to see it in print:

How I ended up falling in love with Ghana's cuisine (and wanting everyone else to have that chance, too)

No budget. No publisher. No photographer. No problem!

I am humbled and excited right now, and want to share a bit of the story behind The Ghana Cookbook. I hope it will encourage you.

For years, publishers and agents told me "there's just no market for a sub-Saharan Africa single-country cookbook. Why don't you do a regional Africa cookbook instead?" For years I declined. A writer friend warned me "No agent will pick up a book like that that no one will buy."

I kept saying  "that's like doing a regional "Europe" cookbook, or a regional "Asia" cookbook, and lumping Italian, French, German, British, Dutch, Spanish, etc. together, or Chinese, Indian, Thai, Japanese, Korean, etc. all together.

Finally, I started the cookbook myself.  Proposals came back, rejected. "There's no market." I didn't give up. I kept working. I learned to photograph food. I kept writing and speaking. I kept blogging. Along the way, many of you found me and urged me on. New African culinary voices arose. The International Association of Culinary Professionals gave me a boost with a pre-contract grant to pursue my dream. Barbara Baeta in Ghana joined the project. We kept working, fueled by belief and love that someday its time would come.

Finally, in 2014, visionary Priti Chitnis Gress at Hippocrene Books decided to take a chance.

Let's all prove those gatekeepers were wrong--may this cookbook open the floodgates to a realization of the vastness and variety of this huge second-largest continent, with over 4 dozen countries, and the culinary riches it has to share.

Incidentally, "betumi" comes from the Akan word "tumi," meaning the ability to do

something. It alludes to a kind of power that comes from the concentration of ability, the way strands come together to make a broom or a rope strong. To my thinking, "betumi" means "we can do it."

(p. s. please remember these photos are copyrighted.)

Cookbook Update: From then to now

Fran & Kwadwo 1972

Cookbook update: Yay! Friends, it's finally happening. We're just days away from The Ghana Cookbook's  release. Thank you to everyone who has pre-ordered. (Note: Hippocrene increased the size of the  print run given the enthusiasm and advance orders.) Here's a link to more information from the publisher (it should be in stores by Nov. 9, 2015).

All remains a labor of love on my part, and many, many hours of work, which is why I've basically ceased blogging these past months.
   
Projects currently underway:

• Updating BETUMI's website (a long-overdue project)
• A trailer for The Ghana Cookbook (stay tuned)
• Events, articles, and signings to be arranged. Already planned:
• November 13, 2015: cooking demonstration and luncheon at New Leaf Initiative in State College using recipes from the book. 
• January 28, 2016:  Accra, Ghana. Book launching at Flair Catering (with Barbara!) Hopefully, events will also take place in the San Francisco Bay Area, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Portland, Oregon.

 A team at Penn State's Happy Valley Communications (HVC) is helping to get the word out, and has set up a twitter account to help with the countdown and offer tantalizing tidbits to whet your appetite for the book.  HVC is also working with me on an instagram site called The Ghana Cookbook. I'll update folks here as things roll out.

Many of you know one of my favorite sayings from Ghana that has long been my mantra:
"Little, by little, the chicken drinks water." 

The family keeps growing

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.

Coming soon: The Ghana Cookbook

News flash--our forthcoming book is now listed on Amazon! The cover features some of my Ghana photography. Still lots of editing and finalizing, but please stay tuned. It should be out in time for your holiday giving next October. Kudos to Hippocrene for their lovely design.