Bitter Sweet

The beautifully written global history of a uniquely West African nut.

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, Attahshows us that after that first bitter bite of kola always comes sweetness.