Kitchens of the Continent:

Africa’s Pulse Heritage

Every pulse tells a story of the soil it grew in, and every recipe tells the story of the hands that stirred the pot. Look at the map, find a coordinate, and meet the people keeping this rich heritage alive.

Welcome to Africa!

Africa’s map tells the story itself. The vast Sahara in the north is too dry for most legumes, so the green sub-Saharan zone does the heavy lifting. West Africa, led by Nigeria, grows heat-loving cowpeas across the savannas. East Africa – Ethiopia, Tanzania and Kenya – brings chickpeas, lentils, pigeon peas and dry beans from its cool highlands.

Long before modern farming focused on just a few grains, Africa was home to a vibrant treasury of indigenous pulses. Today, as climate change makes rains less reliable and the Sahara creeps south, these forgotten “orphan crops” are returning to the spotlight.

The resilient Cowpea, the earthy Bambara Groundnut and ancient local lentils are celebrated as the “people’s protein” – packed with protein, iron and fiber, they thrive in scorched, poor soil where other crops wither. Their roots naturally enrich the earth by fixing nitrogen – making them as good for the planet as they are for our plates.

At Dal on the Table, we believe every lentil has a story – and reviving these ancient African superfoods might be the key to a more sustainable future.

Zonal Map of Africa

For this series, we’ll move zone by zone. Africa has 54 countries including few Islands across 5 regions: Eastern, Western, Northern, Southern, and Central Africa.

1. Northern Africa: Countries are Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, and Tunisia.

2. Western Africa: Countries are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo and Western Sahara.

3. Central Africa: Countries are Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, São Tomé and Príncipe

4. Eastern Africa: Countries are Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

5. Southern Africa: Countries are Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, and South Africa.

Northern Africa is the right place to start – it’s where West Asia meets the Sahara, and the pulse story shifts.

Happy reading!

Coming up next…… Pulses in Northern Africa.

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