Benin

🇹🇬Togo

Ablo

Rice or corn flour beignets; steamed then sometimes fried; small, round, slightly sweet; a popular street food; served with sauce or as a snack.

🇧🇯Benin

Adoyo

A sweet drink from fermented corn water (ogui) with lemon and lemongrass; low alcohol (1-2%); a refreshing Beninese beverage; served cold.

🇧🇯Benin

Afitin

Fermented locust bean (néré/Parkia biglobosa) condiment; a powerful flavour enhancer; called 'African mustard' in Benin; the Fon name is afitin and Yoruba name is iru; essential to sauces.

🇧🇯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.

🇬🇭Ghana

Akara

Àkàrà

Peeled black-eyed beans ground with onion and pepper, whipped until airy and deep-fried in balls, eaten hot for breakfast with pap or bread.

🇧🇯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.

🇧🇯Cotonou, Benin

Aklui

A traditional porridge from fermented corn starch (mawê) with granules; served with milk, sugar, and sometimes coconut; a Cotonou breakfast specialty; sweet and comforting.

🇧🇯Benin

Akpan

A fermented maize drink with a yogurt-like consistency; white and slightly acidic; a ceremonial drink; sometimes called 'Beninese yogurt'; sold in bags at markets.

🇹🇬Togo

Alloco

Ripe plantain cut into thick slices and fried in red palm oil until the sugars catch, served with raw onion and a chilli sauce.

🇧🇯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.

🇧🇯North (Parakou / Borgou / Bariba), Benin

Atassi

A rice and beans dish; originally from northern Benin; now popular nationwide; served with sauce goussi or sauce tomate; a hearty, protein-rich meal.

🇨🇮Côte d'Ivoire

Attiéké

Cassava peeled, grated, fermented for a day with a starter of older mash, pressed dry, sieved into granules and steamed into a light couscous.

🇲🇱Mali

Bean Fritters

Beignet de haricots

Bean fritters sold as street food in Mali; listed in the Mali tourism document alongside brochettes and froufrou; black-eyed peas are soaked, ground, seasoned, and deep-fried; a popular, inexpensive snack; similar to akara across West Africa; found at street stalls in Bamako and other cities; the breakfast of urban Mali.

🇧🇯Benin

Beninese Calalou

Calalou dahoméen

A leaf stew with meat, dried shrimp, and okra; considered the national dish of Benin; a rich, complex stew; served with rice or pâte; a TasteAtlas-listed dish.

🇬🇭Ghana

Beninese Gari

Gari

Roasted fermented cassava granules; consumed dry, with water, or as paste (piron); a versatile cassava product; the instant food of Benin; eaten with sauce or as a snack.

🇧🇯North (Parakou / Borgou / Bariba), Benin

Beninese Millet Porridge

Bouillie de mil

A fermented millet porridge with milk and sugar; a northern Benin breakfast; nutritious and filling; the millet is fermented overnight for a slightly sour taste.

🇧🇯Benin

Beninese Sauce Rouge

Sauce rouge

Tomato-based sauce with fried meat or fish, onions, and palm oil; the most common sauce in Benin; served over wô, amiwo, or akassa; the everyday sauce of Beninese cuisine.

🇧🇯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.

🇧🇯Benin

Bomiwô

A ceremonial Beninese maize paste, cooked into a smooth, firm dough for communal meals and Vodun observances.

🇧🇯North (Parakou / Borgou / Bariba), Benin

Dambou

Steamed cereal granules made from rice or maize, mixed with moringa leaves; a northern Benin specialty from Parakou; light and nutritious; served with sauce.

🇧🇯Benin

Dja

A Beninese tomato, onion and pepper sauce cooked down until thick and intensely savoury.

🇧🇯Benin

Djongoli

A bean purée with palm oil and corn flour; orange in colour; a festive dish shared between Benin and Togo; rich and hearty; served at celebrations.

🇳🇬Nigeria

Eba

Fermented cassava granules stirred into hot water into a firm, faintly sour dough, the cheapest and most common swallow.

🇳🇬Nigeria

Egusi Soup

Egusi

Ground melon seeds cooked in palm oil with pepper, leafy greens and assorted meat or fish until the seed sets into soft lumps in the oil.

🇸🇳Senegal

Fataya

Thin dough parcels filled with spiced fish or minced meat, folded into half-moons and deep-fried.

🇲🇱Mali

Fermented Néré Seeds

Soumbala

A fermented condiment made from néré (African locust bean) seeds; a key flavoring in Malian and West African cuisine; the seeds are boiled, fermented, and dried; used to season sauces, stews, and soups; has a pungent, umami flavor; listed in What The World Eats as a core condiment of Mali; the Maggi cube of traditional Malian cooking.

🇱🇷Liberia

Fufu

Akpu

Cassava soaked for days until it ferments, then pounded or wrapped and steamed into a soft, sour white swallow.

🇧🇯Benin

Gowé

A traditional drink from malted sorghum or maize; a fermented paste mixed with water, sugar, and milk; nutritious and filling; a Beninese traditional beverage.

🇬🇲The Gambia

Hibiscus Juice

Bissap

Dried hibiscus calyces steeped with sugar, mint and sometimes orange-blossom water into a deep red drink served ice-cold.

🇧🇯Benin

Kluiklui

A Beninese peanut cake made from pressed groundnut paste, shaped into coils or flat cakes and fried until crisp.

🇧🇯Benin

Kpanman

Smoked and softened beef skin used as a prized chewy ingredient in Beninese sauces and stews.

🇬🇭Ghana

Kuli Kuli

Groundnut paste with the oil pressed out, spiced and deep-fried into hard rings or sticks, eaten alone or crumbled over other food.

🇧🇯Benin

Lèwayi

A tapioca porridge with milk and sugar; a comforting Beninese breakfast or snack; the cassava starch gives it a distinctive gelatinous texture; served warm.

🇲🇱Mali

Millet and Curd Milk

Dégué

A Malian dish of millet couscous mixed with curdled milk; a Bambara specialty; listed in the Mali tourism document as a traditional dish; the millet is steamed and then mixed with fresh curdled milk and sugar; a refreshing, nutritious snack or breakfast; found at street stalls and markets

🇧🇫Burkina Faso

Millet Galettes

Galettes de mil

Millet pancakes cooked in a special pan with holes (poêle à trous); known by many ethnic names (misd laaga, wonmi faaga, lampaahoun); a village and urban breakfast or snack.

🇨🇮Côte d'Ivoire

Moyo

Raw onion, tomato, chilli and stock cube crushed together with a little oil and lemon into a loose relish, spooned over grilled fish.