Porridge

🇸🇩Sudan

Aabrai

A Sudanese fermented grain preparation served as a tangy breakfast or light meal.

🇸🇦Saudi Arabia

Aaseedah

عصيدة

Thick porridge made from wheat flour or mashed dates, traditionally eaten by hand, popular in central regions, smooth thick consistency that can be formed into balls with hands, rich ghee flavor, a comforting and traditional dish.

🇰🇷South Korea

Abalone Porridge

전복죽

A luxurious rice porridge with abalone, cooked in sesame oil until creamy and rich, once reserved for royalty and special occasions.

🇺🇸United States

Acorn Mush

A traditional Native American porridge of ground, leached acorns simmered with water into a thick, savory cereal.

🇳🇬Nigeria

Agidi

A Nigerian soft cornmeal pudding, wrapped in leaves and set into a firm jelly-like block, served with soups, stews or akara.

🇸🇱Sierra Leone

Agidi

A Sierra Leonean cornmeal pudding set into a soft, sliceable sour starch.

🇧🇯Centre (Abomey / Collines / Zou), Benin

Agoun

Pounded yam paste; celebrated annually on August 15th in Savalou; elastic, smooth texture; served with sauce arachide, goussi, or gombo; a central/northern Benin festive dish.

🇧🇯South (Cotonou / Porto-Novo / Fon-Yoruba), Benin

Akassa

Fermented corn starch dough shaped into dumplings or porridge; a southern Benin specialty from Ouidah and Porto-Novo; slightly sour; served with sauce goussi or sauce graine.

🇹🇬Togo

Akoumé

The most revered Togolese staple: a smooth, thick corn porridge made from ground maize and fermented cassava, stirred over heat until it sets into a firm, elastic mass; eaten with the fingers and used to scoop rich sauces.

🇹🇬Togo

Akpladjo

Togolese fermented corn dough shaped into soft balls and served swimming in a hot, spicy sauce made with palm oil, tomato, and smoked fish; a comforting everyday dish in the south.

🇬🇭Ghana

Akple

Ewe staple of corn dough and cassava dough cooked together, softer and lighter than banku.

🇪🇭Western Sahara

Al Aych

Al Aych is a Sahrawi barley porridge: dchicha is boiled until soft, then enriched with sweet milk, dahan, butter, or olive oil.

🇸🇦Aseer, Saudi Arabia

Al-Radhifa

الرضيفة

Radhifa is an Asir meal of ghee, salt, fresh milk, and flour, served hot with a creamy texture and strong ghee flavor.

🇳🇬Ibadan, Nigeria

Amala

Àmàlà

Dried yam or cassava flour whisked into boiling water into a dark brown, almost black swallow, eaten in the southwest with ewedu and gbegiri.

🇧🇳Brunei

Ambuyat

Linut

Stretchy sago-starch paste served hot with the candas (chandas) utensil and rolled into a bite dipped in cacah sauces. Ambuyat is a shared Borneo identity: Brunei serves it as a national staple, while Sabah and Sarawak use names such as Linut and Nantung.

🇧🇯South (Cotonou / Porto-Novo / Fon-Yoruba), Benin

Amiwo

Amiwô

Red corn dough cooked with tomato paste, palm oil, onions, and spices; a 'fat pudding' from southern Benin; the festive version of wô; served with grilled chicken or turkey.

🇧🇷Minas Gerais, Brazil

Angu

A thick Brazilian cornmeal porridge, similar to Italian polenta, cooked until sliceable and served with stews, meats or eggs. Common in Minas Gerais and the interior.

🇴🇲Oman

Arseeya

عرسية

Simple rice porridge boiled with boneless chicken until smooth, seasoned with black pepper and cinnamon, served with sour sauce (torshe), very smooth consistency with mild seasoning, a festival comfort food.

🇳🇬Nigeria

Asaro

A Yoruba yam pottage of boiled yam mashed with palm oil, pepper, onions and sometimes fish or prawns, a rustic comfort food.

🇧🇹Trashi Yangtse, Bhutan

Asham Thukpa

ཨ་ཤམ་ཐུག་པ

Trashi Yangtse's Asham Thukpa is a thick corn porridge cooked until spoonable, not a noodle soup.

🇵🇹Algarve, Portugal

Açorda de Marisco

Garlicky bread porridge enriched with shellfish, olive oil, and cilantro.

🇾🇪Yemen

Aṣīṭ

Sorghum, barley or maize meal cooked into a dense paste and served with broth, ghee or honey.

🇲🇻Maldives

Baipen

ބައިޕެން

Rice congee cooked soft and smooth, served with maskurolhi (tuna and coconut chutney) — a comforting Maldivian breakfast or light meal.

🇸🇹Sao Tome and Principe

Banana Pap

Papa de Banana

Santomean banana porridge; bananas cooked and mashed into a smooth porridge; sweet and comforting; a traditional breakfast food; sometimes made with coconut milk; a simple, nourishing dish; the banana porridge of Sao Tome mornings; eaten by children and adults alike.

🇹🇬Togo

Banku

Fermented corn and cassava dough cooked and beaten over heat into a smooth, stretchy, sour ball.

🇺🇦Galicia, Ukraine

Banosh

Банош

Banosh is Hutsul cornmeal porridge cooked with smetana and topped with bryndza, mushrooms, and crispy salo.

🇱🇻Latvia

Barley and Smoked Pork Porridge

Grudenis

Slow-cooked pearl barley with smoked pork, onion and potato, traditionally made for celebrations.

🇪🇪Estonia

Barley Porridge

Kruubipuder

Simple pearl barley porridge with butter, often served alongside marinated eel or as a side dish.

🇱🇻Latvia

Barley Porridge with Potatoes

Bukstiņputra

Hearty porridge of barley groats, potatoes, onions and smoked pork, a traditional rustic dish.

🇱🇾Libya

Bazin

Barley flour worked into boiling water with a stick until it forms a stiff dome, set in the middle of a shared dish of lamb, tomato sauce, potato and boiled eggs.

🇧🇫Burkina Faso

Ben Saalga

A fermented millet gruel widely consumed by young children as a complementary food; produced in dozens of units around Ouagadougou; smooth and easily digestible.

🇧🇯Benin

Beninese Wô

Wô

White corn dough, the most consumed dish in Benin; a plain corn flour porridge served with various sauces; the staple paste of southern Benin; eaten by hand.

🇳🇱Netherlands

Berry Barley Porridge

Watergruwel

Traditional porridge with berry juice, pearl barley, raisins, and currants, served warm or cold, a regional specialty.

🇪🇹Ethiopia

Besso Firfir

በሶ ፍርፍር

A breakfast dish of lightly roasted whole barley grain mixed with warm water, butter and mitmita. A popular food with toddlers and kids, and a fasting-friendly option when butter is omitted.

🇨🇭Zurich, Switzerland

Bircher Muesli

Birchermüesli

Rolled oats soaked overnight in milk or juice with grated apple, lemon, condensed milk and nuts, eaten cold.

🇧🇼Botswana

Bogobe

Botswana's staple sorghum porridge — sorghum, maize, or millet flour stirred into boiling water and cooked slowly into a soft paste; sometimes fermented for days to make ting, a sour version eaten with milk and sugar or with meat.