I think it’s called that because the ingredients – sweet potatoes, peanuts, curry-ish spices – really are commonly used ingredients in modern African cooking, and the flavor combinations taste “ethnic” to American taste buds, but they definitely don’t fit within most of our usual mental “ethnic food” categories (Indian, Asian, Mexican, Mediterranean, etc.). (Can you feel the cynicism coming through?)

Of course, to be fair, it really could be similar to a traditional dish somewhere in Africa. I haven’t studied enough cookery from that continent to know. It just strikes me as a bit akin to McDonald’s “Asian Salad,” which is “Asian” because it contains snowpeas, edamame, oranges, and almonds, even if it’s not exactly a regional specialty anywhere in the diverse countries of Asia.