Tamarind (Tamarindus indica) (from Arabic: تمر هندی‎, romanized tamar hind, "Indian date") is a tree in the family Fabaceae indigenous to tropical Africa. The genus Tamarindus is a monotypic taxon, having only a single species. The tamarind tree produces edible, pod-like fruit which are used extensively in cuisines around the world.

Tamarindus indica is indigenous to tropical Africa,^{[citation needed]} particularly in Sudan, where it continues to grow wild; it is also cultivated in Cameroon, Nigeria and Tanzania. In Arabia, it is found growing wild in Oman, especially Dhofar, where it grows on the sea-facing slopes of mountains. It reached South Asia likely through human transportation and cultivation several thousand years prior to the Common Era. It is widely distributed throughout the tropical belt, from Africa to South Asia, Northern Australia, and throughout South East Asia, Taiwan and China.

In the 16th century, it was heavily introduced to Mexico, and to a lesser degree to South America, by Spanish and Portuguese colonists, to the degree that it became a staple ingredient in the region's cuisine.

Anthony Joseph is a British poet, novelist, musician and lecturer.

Joseph was born in Trinidad and was raised by his grandparents. He began writing as a young child and cites his main influences as calypso, surrealism, jazz, the spiritual Baptist church that his grandparents attended, and the rhythms of Caribbean speech. Joseph has lived in the UK since 1989.

In September 2004 he was chosen by Renaissance One and the Arts Council England as one of fifty Black and Asian writers who have made major contributions to contemporary British literature, appearing in the historic "A Great Day in London" photograph and performing at the event at the British Library. In April 2005, Joseph served as the British Council's first poet-in-residence at California State University, Los Angeles.

Joseph is the author of the poetry collections. Desafinado (1994), Teragaton (1997), and Bird Head Son (2009). His debut novel The African Origins of UFOs, was published by Salt Publishing in November 2006. Described as an "afro-psychedelic-noir, a poetic work of metafiction, mythology and afro-futurism",^{[citation needed]} the book was endorsed by Kamau Brathwaite, Linton Kwesi Johnson, and Lauri Ramey, who hailed it in her introduction as "a future fiction classic". Reviewing the book, Ali Alizadeh called Joseph "both a faithful heir and an agnostic rebel; a Black poet haunted by Africa's past as well as a bilingual post-modernist amused by the possibilities of the future. Contemporary literature doesn't come a lot more sophisticated and intriguing than this." Joseph subsequently received an Arts Council award to conduct a reading tour of the UK in support of the book. In 2007, the tour continued to Europe with a ten-city tour of Germany and readings in the US.