Culture Finds: African cuisine, James Baldwin in San Francisco and art commemorating victims in China's Sichuan province

In this week's culture finds the existence of African cuisine is questioned, James Baldwin evaluates San Francisco's African American community and an artist remembers earthquake victims from southwest China.

Is there an "African" cuisine?
The word cuisine is often used to imply a cooking style that is somehow sophisticated and skilled and elaborate, as in haute cuisine. It seems everything sounds fancier to English speakers when said in French, even though the word literally means "kitchen." Technically, cuisine just refers to the way food is prepared and/or the food itself. Somehow the question above sounds a lot less profound when phrased as "Is there such a thing as 'African cooking'?" {Africa Unchained}

Take This Hammer
KQED's film unit follows author and activist James Baldwin in the spring of 1963, as he's driven around San Francisco to meet with members of the local African-American community. He is escorted by Youth For Service's Executive Director Orville Luster and intent on discovering: "The real situation of Negroes in the city, as opposed to the image San Francisco would like to present." {Africa is a Country}

Poem Inspires U.S. Sculptor To Honor Quake Victims
A week after a massive earthquake rocked southwest China last year, NPR aired a poem called "Elegy," by Chengdu poet He Xiaozhu. One NPR listener was so inspired by the poem that he decided to make a sculpture based on it.