African cooking and African history -- Basic ingredients -- Seasons and seasonings: Africa's Geographic Endowments of the Edible -- Staples, starches, and the heat of Atlantic circulation -- Stirring the national stew: food and national identity in Ethiopia -- Taytu's feast: cuisine and nation in the New Flower, Ethiopia, 1887 -- Stirring a national dish: Ethiopian cuisine, 1500-2000 -- Africa's cooking: some common ground of culture and of cuisine -- A West African culinary grammar -- History and cookery in the Maize Belt and Africa's maritime world -- Africa's global menu -- Diaspora cookery: Africa, circulation, and the new world pot -- Epilogue: some good comparative readings -- Recipe list.