Cumin has been used for centuries in the cuisines of Northern Africa, Arabia, and India, where it is usually mixed with other spices. When cumin was introduced to Central Africa is unknown, but recipes like this one and Chicken in Cumin Sauce are common there. This recipe is also used with bushmeat such as antelope or gazelle.
Cumin was first cultivated in ancient Egypt, and is described in the Bible. An interesting text on biblical translation of botanical names, is found in the “cumin” and “pomegranate” sections of Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages.
Isaiah 28: 24-27
When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually? Does he keep on breaking up and harrowing the soil? When he has leveled the surface, does he not sow caraway and scatter cummin? Does he not plant wheat in its place, barley in its plot, and spelt in its field? His God instructs him and teaches him the right way. Caraway is not threshed with a sledge, nor is a cartwheel rolled over cummin; caraway is beaten out with a rod, and cummin with a stick.