African and Caribbean foods are colourful and tasty. To understand the food culture, it will be fair to know something about the people of Africa and the Caribbean.
Surrounded by water from all directions, Africa is a continent with clearly determined and absolutely accurate borders. In the north, it is separated from Europe by the Mediterranean Sea, in the northeast, is separated from Asia by the Suez Canal and farther by the Red Sea. From the east and southeast it is surrounded by the Indian Ocean, from the west by the Atlantic Ocean.
The total number of independent states in Africa is 54. The transcontinental country in this region is Egypt, having also a small part of its territory in Asia, on the other side of the Suez Canal, but politically it is a member of the African Union.
The continent of Africa is the second largest landmass on Earth, and is home to hundreds of different cultural and ethnic groups. This diversity is surely reflected in the many local culinary traditions in terms of choice of ingredients, style of preparation and cooking methods.
African cuisines are as tantalizing and nutritious as foods from anywhere else in the world.
Africans, through their foods, portray their unique culture and values, bring exciting diversity and beauty to the entire human race.
Africans, wherever they are, take pride in cooking and eating freshly made meals, avoiding refined produce and chemicals. They seek fresh natural produce as much as possible to prepare them into variety of delicious meals for the family.
African cuisines are prepared from ingredients made from cassava, millet, sorghum, cocoyam, rice, beans, plantain, yam, fish, poultry, palm oil, bush meat, beef, and a host of fruits and vegetables. Food items are mostly rich in dietary fibres and low in refined sugars and additives, providing a balanced highly nutritional diet when properly prepared and eaten.
