10 Questions about African Cuisine

I was thinking today about some of the spoken or unspoken questions that people ask me when they first hear about the whole subject of African food and culture. I'll list them in no particular order here and begin sharing my answers a little every day for the next couple of weeks. Let me know of other questions you'd like answered, or add your comments.

1. Huh? Is there even such a thing as African "cuisine"? Never heard of it.

2. Isn't it just the same thing as African-American cuisine? "Soul food"?

3. Aren't most Africans starving or fighting or dying from AIDS and living at a subsistence level?

4. Isn't the food too hot/bland/boring/primitive?

5. Why should I be interested?

6. What makes you the expert, white American lady?

7. Isn't African food really unhealthy?

8. Why aren't there African restaurants like there are Italian or Indian or Chinese or Thai restaurants?

9. Doesn't it require too many weird ingredients or kinds of cooking equipment?

10. Where can I go to learn more about (or taste) African cuisine?