Bitter Sweet
The Story of West Africa Through the Kola Nut
The beautifully written global history of a uniquely West African nut.
Description
The kola nut is a seed indigenous to West Africa, chewed by ancient caravan travellers to survive their harsh desert journeys, the ‘Cola’ in Coca-Cola. From Senegal to Cameroon, it is woven into community life, customs and cuisine.
Searching for stories about this caffeine-rich seed to better understand her West African home, acclaimed author Ayesha Harruna Attah takes readers along the Niger River, through the red sands of the Sahel and across the Atlantic Ocean. She traces her family’s roots as kola traders and cultivators in Ghana’s forests and savannah. Encountering craftspeople, cultural custodians and descendants of enslaved people who travelled with kola to the Americas, she discovers what this unique commodity reveals about identity and tradition—and about the region’s place in a messy, interconnected world. Along the way, she begins to fall in love with West Africa.
Blending history, travelogue and cultural exploration, Attah shows us that after that first bitter bite of kola always comes sweetness.
Table of contents
What’s in a Name?
Introduction
1. Women Kings
2. War Nut
3. The Grand Market
4. Trade Nut
5. Love Nut?
6. Power Nut
7. Peace Nut
8. The World’s Most Famous Beverage
9. The Color of Life
Epilogue: Mma Shetu’s Kola Ice-cream
If Kola Could Talk
Acknowledgments
Notes
Author(s)
Ayesha Harruna Attah is the author of five novels, including The Hundred Wells of Salaga, a William Saroyan International Prize for Writing finalist. As the Rolex Perpetual Arts Initiative 2023–24 literature protégée, she was mentored by Bernardine Evaristo. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Newsweek, Elle Italia and other media. Born and raised in Ghana, she lives in Senegal.
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