The African Kitchen: A Day in the Life of a Safari Chef

Shirley J.     Adult Non-Fiction African Cookbook     Recipe from Ethiopia and other African Nations.

The African Kitchen: A Day in the Life of a Safari Chef by Josie Stow and Jan Baldwin       144 pages

Fascinating story, photos and recipes from chefs who work out in the wild on safari tours carrying their ingredients and cooking utensils, stoves and refrigerators out in the savannah to give tourists not only the experience of being up close and personal with wild animals still living free on the continent, but, also offering up lavish meals prepared outside on the African plains to give safari goers the ultimate experience of enjoying gourmet meals and adult beverages made from recipes from Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Namibia, Mozambique, etc.   The authors cite many recipes from a Zulu chef friend and the recipes sound so succulent and the photos so compelling it makes the reader wish you could be out there right along with them to experience the phenomenon that is Africa, ther terrain, the animals in the wild, the culture, the spirit, the freedom of experiencing living in the wild if only for a little while and living the dream that is the essence of African cooking.    It amazed me how simple the authors make it all seem.  What all they do to provide the full safari experience while making these sometimes extremely intricate recipes that they explain in such easy to follow instructions and explain them in such down to earth ways even as they have to often race ahead of the safari tourists in order to get elaborate food stations set up that are incredible yet out in the wild among all God's creatures.    They even teach you how to find termite mounds and how to make sure they have been vacated in order to term them into pizza ovens!   They tell you how to be sure the spot you are setting up in is free of snakes, cheetahs, elephants, lions etc.  Then how to go about setting up the equipment you have brought out.    It is always a good day if the eggs make it without cracking while riding fast in the jeeps as they rush out to stay ahead of the tour in order to provide cold drinks, and delightful appetizers, entrees, fruit and vegetable recipes that are foreign to our ears but look absolutely delectable in the photos included.   And to think of hauling actual stoves (they sometimes cook over a fire, they sometimes even put things on a shovel over a fire to cook them, but they don't always use termite mounds or cooking dugouts in the ground, they actually have refrigerators and stoves that households would use - how do they do it?    Generators?   Gas?   And then the elaborate decorations and tables adorned wonderfully and bars seriously BARS where they provide adult beverages, sometimes making their own vodka from many ingredients including fermented chili peppers.    I highly recommend everyone check out this look into a world you might never know about otherwise.   When I think about safaris, I had never thought about the local people working for the safari company to put out a spread of food that would rival a 5 star restaurant in the States.  Man!  They know how to throw a party at ever sitting and to have a view of Kilamanjaro rising above the serengetti, too!   Once when I was young I asked my Mom, "If you could be anywhere right now, where would it be?"   She said, "I would like to be on safari."    Having read this book with its wonderful asides telling of great experiences and repasts, along with the beauty and pureness of animals living free as they are meant to and being able to share that dream for even just a moment in time.   I am right there with you, Mom.   I recommend this book to anyone old enough to appreciate the wonder, the cuisine and the beauty and skill of bringing it all together in the outdoors in the magical continent of Africa.