Jack Schmidling wrote:
> The book series "No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" (Botswana)make frequent
> references to pumpkins as some sort of "food of the gods". Little kids
> go bonkers when they learn there is pumpkin for dinner.
>
> What on earth sort of "pumpkin" could they be talking about?

The closest thing you will find in the states is the Seminole pumpkin -
a small, buff colored squash, which was grown by the "Black Seminole"
people in Florida. Florida was a refuge for freed and escaped slaves,
many interacted with and mated with the Seminole Indians of the area,
developing a multiethnic people. The pumpkins they grew were most
likely descendants of African varieties.

Here's a pic (below). Although the link says they were grown as early
as 1500's by the Seminoles, I don't think that's correct - I thnk
that's probably too early. The Africans were much better farmers than
the seminoles and grew far more varieties of food crops in Florida. I
have found a number of references which stated that the Seminoles
looked to the Africans for guidence in growing different crops.
(Seminoles kept Africans as slaves although the relationship was
nothing like the enslavement of Africans by the people of European
descent - it was much more of a mutualistic relationship and the
Africans had their own self-governing communities.)


http://www.southernexposure.com/Merc... ry_Code=PUMP

Anyway, that's as much as I know about African Pumpkins.

-L.