Cooking From South Africa Essay -- essays research papers fc

Cooking from West AfricaHundreds of years ago the empires of West Africa flourished and expanded through trade on the edge of the Sahara desert. Today, these lands atomic number 18 occupied by modern nations after a long and brutal history throughout the lands of Africa. Stretching from Senegal to Nigeria, these lands are rich in resources, ranging from wet coastal rain forests to the Sahel at the edge of the desert. Along with expansion came the foods of the region of West Africa, which are rich in flavor and reveal the wonderful diversity of African cuisine. The land south of the Sahara is full of history and contains a full array of foods, revealing the culture and creativity of the vast resources that encompass the land (Jackson 3).West Africa encompasses a wide band south from the Sahara Desert to the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, with very different climates accordingly. Ancient traders would make frequent journeys across the desert to exchange coarseness and spices for gold, along with ivory and slaves in the south. The Empires of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai expanded and flourished as a result of the trans-Saharan trade. This trade was crucial for West Africa and for many years this trade was the only interaction West Africa had with the rest of the world (Jackson 8). In the fiftee...