"Seven grains of paradise tells the fascinating and much neglected story about many kinds of food--and also delicacies--in Africa, a continent that gets precious little credit for anything, least of all its intricate cuisines, farms, farming know-how, food cultures and its ability to feed itself. It shouldn't be surprising that Africa has all of these, but for many it may be. Centuries of disparaging judgements and a half century of media reports churning out images of famine, disease and conflict on the continent, have eclipsed the facts that Africans have marvellous local foods and culinary cultures, and that small family farms still feed most of the continent. The narrative of the book is driven by Baxter's personal quest to learn about some fascinating and new (to her) foods in a handful of countries in sub-Sahara Africa and collect the stories these tell about the continent's farms, its markets, and its people. Her guides and tutors are the people who grow, sell, buy, prepare, and serve the foods. They help her explore the riddles of a continent better known for hunger than for its food, and why that is. It draws on stories collected over the more than thirty years that she has lived and worked in Africa, and builds on these with meticulous research. From the fabled city of Timbuktu on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert, to the diamond fields of Sierra Leone, from the savannah of northern Ghana, to the rainforests of Central Africa, readers are invited along on a delightful journey of learning and eating--and some drinking too, of invigorating indigenous beverages, brews and palm wine straight from the trees. The culinary journey takes the reader down garden paths, into forests that double as farms, through the chaos of markets and into modest little roadside eateries. The real surprise here is not that Africa should boast such a dazzling array of delicious dishes and culinary traditions and indigenous foods; it is that the rest of the world knows so little about them. Baxter, a journalist, anthropologist, development researcher and writer, and Senior Fellow with the independent think tank, the Oakland Institute, does not shy away from the realities of hunger and poverty and the real lack of amenities, health facilities, and sanitation on the continent. While the book highlights the complexities and delights of African foods and family farms, it also documents the growing risks they face. So even if Seven grains of paradise is intimate and often light in tone, it is also an important and eye-opening work, thoroughly researched. The stories feed the overarching narrative of what makes for healthy food and farms and communities--what they are and how to maintain them on a continent where "slow food" and "local food" are still the normal fare for so many. With its focus on food, the book is timely and likely to garner much attention as the world confronts rising food prices, and the future of food--and the farms that grow it--in the face of climate change."--
