Picture books can be a wonderful, joyful way to hook children and introduce them to a new topic of study.  There are many excellent African-centered picture books about food that I will incorporate into my curriculum. Jollof Day by Bernard Mensah and Cooking Jollof with Nana in Ghana by Crystal Boateng would be great read alouds to start with because both focus on Ghanaian jollof rice but one is set in the United States, the other in Accra.  Both tell the story of passing down a recipe and the central value of relationships.