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Stirring the Pot: A History of African Cuisine. By James C. McCann. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2009. Pp. xiv, 213. $26.95 paper.
What is a cuisine? In this intriguing book, historian James McCann defines it as "a distinct and coherent body of food preparations based on one or more starchy staples, a set of spice combinations, complementary tastes, particular textures, iconic rituals, and a locally intelligible repertoire of meats, vegetables, and starchy textures ... form[ing] a structure of both preparation and presentation that make a meal" (p. 5). As if this was not already an overflowing plateful, he also seeks to trace the historical development of African cuisines, their political contexts, the role of food in cultural identity, and the connection between diet and environment.
Doing justice to all of these topics in a single slim volume is simply impossible. How do you cover all the foods and cuisines of such an incredibly diverse continent, the place where the art of cooking was first invented, and developed over hundreds of millennia? Do you focus on food production? Or do you concentrate on trade and markets, and focus on outlets like street vending, on restaurants, or home cooking? Do you take a descriptive approach, or use literature and the arts to plumb the aesthetic and...