African food
Cuisine of Africa reflects indigenous traditions, as well as influences from Arabs, Europeans, and Asians.
The continent of Africa is the second largest landmass on the earth and is home to hundreds of tribes, ethnic and social groups. This diversity is also reflected in African cuisine, in the use of basic ingredients as well as in the style of preparation and cooking techniques.
Traditionally, as in almost all cultures, the cuisine of Africa uses a combination of locally available fruits, grains, and vegetables, milk and meat products. In some parts of Africa, the traditional African diet has a predominance of milk, curd, and whey – naturally, the Old Testament has described Ethiopia as the land of milk and honey. In much of tropical Africa however, cow's milk is rare and cannot be produced locally (owing to various diseases that affect livestock). Yet, differences, sometimes significant, are noticeable in the eating and drinking habits across the continent of Africa - African cuisine differs in different parts of Africa, and East Africa, North Africa, West Africa, Southern Africa and Central Africa each have their own distinctive cuisine.
The cuisine of East African varies from area to area. In the inland savannah, the traditional cuisine of cattle-keeping peoples is distinctive in that meat products are generally absent. Cattle, sheep and goats were regarded as a form of currency and a store of wealth, and are not generally consumed as food. In some areas, traditional peoples consume the milk and blood of cattle, but rarely the meat. Elsewhere, other peoples are farmers who grow a variety of grains and vegetables. Maize (corn) is the basis of ugali, the East African version of West Africa's fufu. Ugali is a starch dish eaten with meats or stews. Around 1000 years ago, the Arabs settled in the coastal areas of East Africa, and Arabic influences are especially reflected in the Swahili cuisine of the coast – steamed cooked rice with spices in Persian style, use of saffron, cloves, cinnamons and several other spices, and pomegranate juice.
Several centuries later, the British and the Indians came, and both brought with them their foods, like Indian spiced vegetable curries, lentil soups, chapattis and a variety of pickles. Just before the British and the Indians, the Portuguese had introduced techniques of roasting and marinating, as also use of spices turning the bland diet into aromatic stewed dishes. Portuguese also brought from their Asian colonies fruits like the orange, lemon and lime. From their colonies in the New World, Portuguese also brought exotic items like chiles, peppers, maize, tomatoes, pineapple, bananas, and the domestic pig – now, all these are part of East African and the African food.
The article above is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "African cuisine".