1. How aware are people about the brilliance of African culinary delicacies? 

The most common response to me is, "Huh? What is African cuisine? Is there such a thing?"  People still treat Africa like a single country, not the second largest continent in the world (53 independent countries and counting the islands and territories, 61). Most people have no idea of the variety and exuberance of African cuisines; from delicious Moroccan couscous and tagines to Ethiopian injera and wats to Kenyan sukumawiki or githeri or samosas, to South African curries, samp and beans and bredies to West and Central African wonderful peanut and palmnut soups and stews, cassava meal (gari), and plantain dishes. Many people equate "African-American" cuisine ("soul food") to African food, which is also very misleading. But that's another topic. I'm greatly encouraged by the growing interest in African cuisines among today's generation of cooks.

2.    Are there distinct methods of cooking African foods?

This is a hard question to answer because of Africa's diversity. There are only so many ways to prepare food: pounding, sifting, grinding, steaming, smoking, drying, salting, fermenting, slow simmering, sautéing, cutting and eating fresh and raw, baking, grilling, roasting, deep-frying, shallow frying, and pickling. These are all techniques used throughout the continent. The stereotypical image of cooking in Africa, especially sub-Saharan Africa, is of a woman standing and pounding in a mortar with a long pestle. With new technologies for grinding and food preparation, this traditional image may gradually change.

One favored cooking technique is slow simmering of many stews and sauces as opposed to, say, a quick stir-fry. Many meats and poultry, especially free-range, require longer cooking times. Many starches/carbohydrates for meals are made from roots or grains that are pounded and/or ground and cooked with water into a heavy thick porridge (e.g. ugali, sadza, fufu, nshima, tuo zaafi, banku, ogi, posho, pap) to eat with a relish/soup/stew. Meat or seafood is often used more as a flavoring than as the main ingredient in meals. However, flavor principles, techniques and equipment vary widely throughout the continent.

3. What important advice can you give our readers on preparing African recipes?

That's a little like saying "what advice can you give readers on preparing European food?" Do you mean Italian or Spanish or French or British or Portuguese or Irish or German, or Swedish food? You see the problem. The advice would be the same as for cooking any culture's food: do a little research. There are many resources on the Internet, including videos on YouTube, and recipes. BETUMIBlog offers links to recommended sources. One of the best ways is to find someone from Africa and ask him or her to teach you to cook something! If you've tasted something in a restaurant, ask for the name and do some research on it. But do beware that not all recipes online are authentic (some bad recipes just keep getting passed around from site to site), not all are well written, and sometimes some ingredients may not be available. Keep an eye out for the rare cooking classes. See below for some cookbooks I have found reliable. And remember, one of the wonderful things about African cuisines is their flexibility and room for improvisation.

4. What types of ingredients are unique to African cuisines?

Since 1996, the National Academy Press has been developing a series called Lost Crops of Africa (vol. 1, Grains, 1996; vol. 2, Vegetables, 2006; vol. 3 Fruits, 2008). This is available online (http://bit.ly/bIi5oh) and is a great resource for information on some of the indigenous and local ingredients used in African cooking. I smile because these foods are not "lost" to Africans, just to those of us who live outside of Africa (things like egusi melon seeds, palm fruit, moringa, garden eggs, fonio, grains of paradise, tef, tigernuts, to mention a few). The specific ingredients used in Africa are heavily affected by climate and geography (e.g. desert, highland, savannah, rivers, seacoast, tropical rainforest, and temperate climate).

Interestingly, with the popularity of Latin American and Caribbean cuisine, many ingredients that are found in African cuisines are becoming more widely available in North America than they were even a few years ago (things like plantains, cassava, chili peppers, cocoyam [taro], corn husk wrappers, dried hibiscus flowers, tropical fruits and juices, fresh coriander, cowpeas, dried hominy, and African-type yams). Also, many African regions incorporate Indian spices into their dishes, and these too are more accessible to Western cooks. In addition, there is a growing import market for processed African ingredients, such as canned cream of palm fruit, red palm oil (aka dende oil), fufu flour, and cassava meal. Africa has already contributed many things to our global culinary table, and has much, much more to offer.

5. What are some important elements in African food history?

Here's a compressed timeline: By 200-300 C.E. camels revolutionized trans-Saharan trade and Arab caravans and trade flourished in great West African kingdoms: gold, ivory, slaves, cola nuts, and melegueta pepper (grains of paradise) were traded for salt, then a scare and precious mineral.
By ~500-900 Malaysian bananas and coconuts were established in the East African diet, probably spreading from Madagascar and East Africa to the rest of the continent. Malayo-Polynesian colonizers in Madagascar and the Comoros, plus Arabian and Persian traders, also likely introduced mangoes, limes, black pepper, and ginger. Muslim influence continued spreading throughout Africa (~600-700) and for hundreds of years (beginning  ~700 to at least 1500), the Arab-Indian Ocean slave trade existed. Arab and Iranian Muslim traders exchanged goods, including wheat and wine, for slaves and other goods. Intermarriage of Arabs and coastal people from Somalia to Mozambique meant mixing of foods, spices and cooking techniques.

Another major influence on African food history was the arrival of the Portuguese in Africa, beginning in the 1470s and the ensuing Trans-Atlantic slave trade. The Portuguese introduced many New World crops: cassava, maize, likely also sweet potatoes, chili peppers, pineapples, and peanuts. Other 19th and 20th century colonial experiences with Italians, British, German, French, and Dutch, and immigrants from countries like India or Malaysia influenced cuisines in individual countries.

6. What are some examples of some popular African food dishes?

As I said earlier, Africa is a big continent. For some recipes, check out BETUMI's blog and YouTube postings. I tend towards West African dishes (from jollof rice to gari foto or drinks like bissap or tamarind drink or snacks like akara [black-eyed pea fritters] or moinmoin [savory steamed cowpea pudding],) some other recipes are included, such as Ethiopian injera (that spongy crepe from a fermented tef dough) and doro wat (a spicy chicken stew) and gomen wat (chard stew). Or, you can learn to prepare green plantain chips or crack open a coconut there.

Ginger beer (a very strong non-alcholoic ginger ale), redbush (rooibos) or lemongrass teas are also very refreshing. And coffee likely originated in Ethiopia. A simple peanut sauce or groundnut stew/soup is a favorite throughout much of Africa, as are dishes using greens. For example, "sukumawiki" is Swahili for "push the week" and is both the name popular East African inexpensive dish used to stretch the budget until payday by making a meal using greens and any leftover meat or fish, and the name of the greens themselves. In Ghana, many dishes begin with "the ingredients," a trinity of onions, (chili) peppers and tomatoes.

The quickest way to get a feel for the variety of African cuisines is to do Google searches under a particular country or region. The Congo Cookbook is a good online source (if you can get over those annoying pop-ups).
 
7. Which books on African food would you recommend to our readers?

Some of my favorite cookbooks are out of print or are unavailable. Here are some you can locate reasonably priced online. You'll note I've omitted Marcus' Samuelsson's 2007 The Soul of a New Cuisine (Wiley). The book is gorgeous, but I don't use it to cook traditional African recipes.

• Dorinda Hafner's A Taste of Africa (Ten Speed Press, 1993, 2002)

• Tami Hultman's Africa News Cookbook: African Cooking for Western Kitchens (Penguin, 1986)

• Jessica Harris's The Africa Cookbook: Tastes of a Continent (Simon and Schuster, 1998)

• Constance Nabwire and Betha Vining Montgomery Cooking the African Way, (Lerner, 1988). Part of the Easy Menu Ethnic Cookbooks series. In 2001 they did separate books on West African and East African cooking. I haven't seen them, but bet they would be good.

• Ola Olaore, Traditional African Cooking (Foulsham, 1990). This book keeps reinventing itself. In 1980 it was The Best Kept Secrets of West and East African Cooking, and in 2009 it was re-released in paperback under the title African Cooking: The Best-Kept Secrets from West to East.

• Fran Osseo-Asare's Food Culture in Sub-Saharan Africa (Greenwood, 2005) provides an overview of all the regions except North Africa, and includes sample recipes. Not a cookbook so much as a resource. Part of the Greenwood Press series Food Culture around the World.

• Fran Osseo-Asare's A Good Soup Attracts Chairs: A First African Cookbook for American Kids (Pelican, 1993) (I only recommend the original hardback color version) is available used from Barnes and Noble and Amazon.com. A good introduction for children (though adults and universities use it, too).