Flavors of Africa: Discover Authentic Family Recipes from All Over the Continent

A region’s cuisine evolved from peoples who settled there and the available foods in that region. Africa, because of its location, has seen migrants from the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Europe. Its cuisines reflect those influences along with influences from internal migration. This book aims to bring readers flavors from all parts of Africa. The book is divided into four parts (east, west, north, and south), each section containing recipes from that part of Africa. West Africa has the most entries (thirty-one recipes), while the other sections have about a dozen each.

Each recipe has a color picture of the finished product, which was very helpful. However, the preparation instructions are not completely clear (or there are some steps missing) as not all the recipes turn out looking like the picture provided. While the dishes are labeled as authentic, the ingredients are fairly easy to find, most probably due to adaptions for North America (the author lives in Atlanta). Curiously, Zanzibar pizza is in the Southern Africa section, while Zanzibar is in East Africa (as part of Tanzania). If made correctly, the food tastes good (but not great), and the recipes do not require expert-level culinary proficiency.