Customer Reviews

A Taste of Africa: Traditional & Modern African Cooking

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Dorinda Hafner, a Ghana-born cook, is a witty, urbane presence in this pan-African collection of recipes, handily arranged by country rather than food type or course (you can use the index for listings the in the latter fashion.) Dorinda is one of those cookbook authors who is well-traveled, with many friends from many different national and ethnic origins, friends upon whom she calls for recipes and to whom she gives credit.

Each recipe is prefaced with background info on the country, the origins of a dish, regional variations, etc. Some of the information she includes is clearly anecdotal and perhaps a little archaic--local creation myths, for example--but they add to the overall "flavor" of the book, provided you don't assume they represent the views of all peoples of a specific country.

African Countries included (each gets its own chapter with several recipes): Egypt, Morocco, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Mali, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe,

Non-African (own chapter, as well): Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Cuba, Louisiana (USA).

What Dorinder is good at is showcasing the diversity of Africa's peoples, cuisines, religions, and cultural traditions. She makes a few overly broad distinctions--e.g. "Africans south of the Sahara do not like fruits mixed with savory dishes;"--but she also provides from useful connections, noting that the African-indigenous okra vegetable is popular in every region of Africa and throughout West African-influenced Louisiana (U.S.A.) and the Caribbean.

The recipes are simple and most of them are extremely filling/satisfying, combining in one dish meat, chicken, or fish with starch (plantain, sweet potato, couscous), greens (spinach, collards), or other vegetables (pumpkin, okra).

Note: there are no pictures in this book, only maps of each country at the beginning of country chapters.

The book is well worth the price for the recipes, many of which you will make over and over and will learn to vary based on your own tastes and creative urges.

Recommended.

I really love this book. I am glad that I added it to my ever increasing number of African cookbooks. The book is really full of wonderful recipes and a lot of great information about the continent of Africa itself. I make various recipes that are given in this book throughout the week now.