Guinea

🇬🇭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.

🇹🇬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.

🇲🇷Mauritania

Attaya

Ataya

Chinese gunpowder tea brewed three times in succession, each round stronger, sweeter and more mint-heavy, and poured from height to build foam.

🇨🇮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.

🇸🇳Senegal

Banane Glacée

Banana purée frozen with sugar and milk in a small plastic sachet, bitten open at the corner and eaten frozen.

🇬🇳Guinea

Bontai

A palm-kernel soup from Guinea, cooked with aromatics and fish or meat into a rich broth.

🇲🇱Mali

Chicken Yassa

Poulet yassa

A Senegalese dish widely eaten in Mali; chicken marinated in lemon, onions, and mustard, then grilled and simmered in the marinade; listed in Wikipedia's Malian cuisine as a popular dish; the Malian version may differ slightly in seasoning; served with rice

🇧🇫Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso

Chitoumou

Shea tree caterpillars, a seasonal delicacy (July-September); fried, cooked in sauce, dried, or powdered; high in protein; a Bobo ethnic specialty around Bobo-Dioulasso.

🇬🇳Conakry, Guinea

Conakry Rolled Cake

Gâteau roulé Konakry

A rolled cake from Conakry made with cassava flour, wheat flour, eggs, sugar, and vanilla; traditional for special occasions; a unique Guinean dessert blending local cassava flour with French pastry technique.

🇨🇩DR Congo

Congolese Fufu

Fufu

The staple food of the Congo — a smooth, dense, slightly elastic dough made from cassava flour, corn flour, or sometimes plantains; rolled into golf-ball-sized balls and dipped into stews; the proper way to eat it is to pinch off a piece with the right hand, indent with the thumb, and scoop up sauce; present on all Congolese tables from north to south; the universal accompaniment.

🇲🇱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.

🇬🇳Guinea

Flour Cake

Gâteau Farine

A simple Guinean flour cake baked as a round, lightly sweet snack for tea or celebrations.

🇸🇱Sierra Leone

Footi

A thick vegetable sauce with eggplant, okra, kidney beans, tomatoes, and bouillon cube; served over rice; a hearty Guinean everyday dish.

🇨🇮Côte d'Ivoire

Foutou

Boiled plantain and cassava, or yam alone, pounded together in a wooden mortar with a long pestle until smooth and elastic, then shaped into a ball.

🇱🇷Liberia

Fufu

Akpu

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

🇬🇳Moyenne-Guinée (Fouta Djallon / Labé), Guinea

Fögnè Sourtinaadi

Fögnè sortinaadi

Fonio couscous with peanut butter meatballs in tomato and vegetable sauce; a festival dish from the Fouta Djallon; the Fulani people's celebration specialty.

🇨🇮Côte d'Ivoire

Ginger Juice

Gnamakoudji

Pounded ginger squeezed through cloth and sweetened, sometimes with pineapple and vanilla, sold frozen in plastic sachets.

🇬🇳Guinea

Guinean Banana Fritters

Beignets de banane

Ripe banana fritters with flour, sugar, vanilla, and nutmeg; crispy outside, pillowy soft within; a popular Conakry street snack and breakfast item.

🇬🇳Guinea

Guinean Cassava Cake

Gâteau au manioc

A cassava flour cake with eggs, lemon zest, rum, sugar, and baking powder; a dense, moist cake using locally grown cassava; a common Guinean dessert.

🇬🇳Guinea

Guinean Fresh Juice

Jus de fruit

Fresh fruit juices from local fruits (mango, pineapple, papaya, orange, banana); often sold in plastic bags at street stalls; a refreshing Guinean tradition.

🇳🇪Niger

Guinean Grilled Corn

Maïs grillé

Corn on the cob grilled over charcoal and slathered with butter or mayonnaise; a popular street snack during the corn season; sold at roadside stalls.

🇬🇳Haute-Guinée (Kankan / Malinké), Guinea

Guinean Kansiye

Kansiye

A beef or lamb stew with onions, oil, thyme, garlic, parsley, cloves, peanut butter, and tomato sauce; associated with the Mandinka people of Upper Guinea; served with white rice.

🇬🇳Basse-Côte (Conakry / Coastal), Guinea

Guinean Konkoé

Konkoé turé gbéli

Smoked catfish stew with red palm oil, hot chili, eggplant, potatoes, okra, onions, garlic, and carrots; served on rice; the most popular fish preparation in coastal Guinea.

🇬🇳Moyenne-Guinée (Fouta Djallon / Labé), Guinea

Guinean Lait Caillé

Lait caillé

Fermented cow's milk (24-48 hours), creamy with a slightly sour taste; served with couscous as dessert or with rice as a snack; a Fula specialty of the Fouta Djallon.

🇬🇳Guinea

Guinean Pastels

Pastels

Fried dough pockets filled with spiced fish, meat, or vegetables; a Guinean street food influenced by Portuguese pastéis; crispy pastry with savoury filling.

🇬🇳Guinea

Guinean Patates

Patates

Fried sweet potato wedges sold in paper cones or plastic bags; a ubiquitous Guinean street snack; crispy outside, soft inside, sprinkled with salt or chili.

🇬🇳Guinea

Guinean Peanut Paste

Pâte d'arachide

Pure ground peanut paste simmered until the oil rises; the base of sauce arachide (mafé); the Conakry version is thicker and browner than the Senegalese; the essential sauce base.

🇬🇼Guinea-Bissau

Guinean Pili-Pili

Pili-pili

African bird's eye chili pepper (50,000-175,000 SHU); used in sauces, as a condiment, and as pili-pili oil; the heat source of Guinean cuisine; called piri-piri in Portuguese.

🇬🇳Guinea

Guinean Puff Puffs

Gato

Fried dough balls with yeast, sugar, salt, and sometimes onion; crispy outside, soft inside; a popular Guinean snack and breakfast item; called gato locally.

🇬🇳Guinea

Guinean Sauce Feuilles

Sauce feuilles

Finely crushed cassava leaves simmered with meat (beef or smoked fish), palm oil, onions, and pepper; also called saka-saka or hakô bantara; a staple sauce across Guinea, especially in the Forest Region.

🇬🇳Haute-Guinée (Kankan / Malinké), Guinea

Guinean Soumbala

Soumbala

Fermented locust bean (Parkia biglobosa) condiment; the néré tree is called 'tree of peace' in Guinea; a natural flavour enhancer used in sauces; the umami seasoning of Guinean cuisine.

🇬🇳Conakry, Guinea

Guinean Yétissé

Yétissé

A Conakry classic: fish stew (tuna, tilapia, or cod) with eggplant, carrots, onions, garlic, cassava, tomatoes, palm oil, ginger, and okra; a communal dish served with crushed okra and white rice.

🇬🇲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.

🇬🇳Guinea

Katun

A named Guinean goat cheese associated with Fouta dairy traditions.

🇬🇭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.

🇬🇳Guinea

Kétoun

A Fouta Guinean tuber and fish stew cooked in palm oil with onion and pepper.