Book celebrates farmers, foods cuisine of Africa

Newly opened rural bookstore Mabel Murple’s Book Shoppe and Dreamery will host its first book launch in August. Pottersfield Press will be introducing the latest book by Nova Scotia journalist and author Joan Baxter – Seven Grains of Paradise: A Culinary Journey in Africa. Baxter, who has lived and worked for more than three decades in several countries in Africa, says she is “thrilled” to be launching her sixth book in rural Nova Scotia. She describes her book as a “celebration of African foods, farms, farmers, crops, cooks and cuisines.” “Africa has much to teach the world about healthy eating. Of the ten countries with the healthiest diets on earth, nine are African, some of them among the monetarily poorest nations on earth.” Readers travel from the fabled city of Timbuktu on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert, to the diamond fields of Sierra Leone, from the savannah of northern Ghana to the rainforests of Central Africa. “It explores the riddle of a continent that is known more for hunger than for its rich and diverse foods and cuisines, and for having discovered and bred many of the staple foods and drinks consumed daily around the world.” Baxter says the book doesn’t shy away from the real problems of food insecurity, hunger or malnutrition brought on by conflict, poverty, unfair trade and climate change. “While the book focuses on the immense potential of family farming and locally produced food in Africa, it also documents the growing risks they face,” she says. Sheree Fitch, who opened the store with her husband Gilles Plante in July, says she’s pleased to host the event because Baxter is a “local writer and a friend” and believes the book has “global significance.” The event runs from 7 to 9 p.m. on Aug. 4 at the bookstore in River John on Allen Road.