Guinea-Bissau

🇬🇼Guinea-Bissau

Accara

Black-eyed peas peeled, ground and whipped with onion and chilli, then dropped into hot oil and served in bread with pepper 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.

🇬🇼Bissau, Guinea-Bissau

Avocado with Tuna

Abacate com Tuna

Ripe avocado halves filled with tuna, coconut, milk, and tomatoes; a cold starter or light meal reflecting Portuguese and tropical influences; one of the dishes TasteAtlas lists for Guinea-Bissau.

🇬🇼Bissau, Guinea-Bissau

Banana Fritters

Fidjós

Fried fritters made with mashed banana and flour; sweet, golden, and crispy; a popular street snack across Guinea-Bissau, sold at markets and roadside stalls; the Portuguese name reflects the Lusophone culinary vocabulary.

🇬🇼Bissau, Guinea-Bissau

Baobab Frozen Dessert

Sorvete di Cabaceira

Frozen dessert made with baobab fruit pulp; the baobab gives a tangy, citrusy flavour and a creamy texture when frozen; a Guinean-Bissau treat using the locally abundant baobab fruit; sold as street ice cream and made at home.

🇬🇼Guinea-Bissau

Baobab Juice

Sumo di Cabaceira

A tart, creamy drink made from soaked baobab pulp in Guinea-Bissau.

🇬🇼Coastal Guinea-Bissau (Bissau / Bijagós Archipelago), Guinea-Bissau

Bijagós Oysters

Ostras

Mangrove oysters harvested from the Bijagós Archipelago, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve; collected by women using traditional, sustainable methods; sold in local markets and to hotels; smaller and more flavourful than farmed oysters, with a briny, mineral taste from the mangrove ecosystem.

🇧🇷Brazil

Caju

The cashew fruit, a yellow-red pear-shaped peduncle with a sweet, astringent juice, with the nut attached at the bottom.

🇧🇷Brazil

Caldeirada de Peixe

A Brazilian Amazonian fish stew of tambaqui or other river fish simmered with tomatoes, onions, peppers and potatoes. Eaten with rice and farofa in the north.

🇸🇳Senegal

Caldou

Caldo

Fish poached in a light broth of onion, lemon and okra or hot pepper, served with plain white rice.

🇬🇼Guinea-Bissau

Calulu

A Lusophone West African fish dish of fish, greens, okra and aromatics simmered together.

🇨🇻Cape Verde

Cape Verdean Feijoada

Feijoada

Bean stew made with feijão pedra (rock beans) or pinto beans, salt-pork, chouriço, cabbage, carrots, and squash in a light-colored tomato broth.

🇬🇼Guinea-Bissau

Cashew Juice

Sumo de Caju

Fresh cashew fruit pressed into a fragrant Guinea-Bissau juice, served chilled in the cashew season.

🇬🇼Bissau, Guinea-Bissau

Chicken Blood Rice

Arroz de Cabidela

Rice cooked with chicken and its blood, mixed with vinegar to prevent clotting; a Portuguese tradition adapted in Guinea-Bissau for special occasions; the blood gives the rice a dark colour and rich, iron flavour; a dish of Lusophone heritage.

🇬🇼Bissau, Guinea-Bissau

Coconut Milk Fish Stew

Moqueca de Peixe

Fish stew with coconut milk, tomatoes, onions, peppers, and lemon; a Portuguese-Brazilian influence adapted to Guinea-Bissau with local Atlantic fish; the coconut milk gives a rich, creamy sauce distinct from palm oil-based stews.

🇬🇼Guinea-Bissau

Coconut Rice

Arroz de Coco

Guinea-Bissau rice cooked in coconut milk until fragrant, often served with fish or a stew.

🇲🇱Mali

Dibi

Lamb cut on the bone and grilled over wood in a dedicated dibiterie, then served on paper with raw onion, mustard and chilli.

🇬🇼Bissau, Guinea-Bissau

Donetes

Small fried dough pastries similar to doughnuts; sweet, round, and dusted with sugar; a Portuguese-influenced street snack sold at markets and bakeries in Bissau and towns across Guinea-Bissau.

🇬🇲The Gambia

Ebbeh

Ebeh

A chunky cassava-thickened seafood soup with smoked fish, crab, shrimp or oysters, palm oil, hot pepper, tamarind, and lime.

🇬🇼Northern Guinea-Bissau (Cacheu / Oio Mangrove Rice), Guinea-Bissau

Farim Salt

Sal de Farim

Artisanal salt harvested from the Cacheu riverbed near Farim, over 100 km from the Atlantic coast; the tidal river leaves a salt crust during the dry season (November–May); women collect, filter, and boil the brine using mangrove wood; a Slow Food Presidium product since 2011; one of the food products TasteAtlas lists for Guinea-Bissau.

🇬🇼Guinea-Bissau

Fartura

A Portuguese-influenced Guinea-Bissau fried-dough snack, served hot from street stalls.

🇸🇳Senegal

Fataya

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

🇬🇼Guinea-Bissau

Fermented Locust Bean

Nététu

Fermented seeds of the African locust tree (Parkia biglobosa); a traditional condiment adding umami flavour to sauces and soups; used in caldo de citi and futi; a Slow Food-recognized product; threatened by industrial stock cubes that are replacing traditional seasonings.

🇬🇲The Gambia

Findi

A fine, couscous-like grain used in The Gambia as an alternative to rice, especially beneath groundnut stews such as domoda.

🇬🇼Guinea-Bissau

Fish and Peanut Fritters

Bolinhos de Mancarra com Peixe

Guinea-Bissau fritters combining seasoned fish with ground peanut, shaped and fried until crisp.

🇨🇻Cape Verde

Fish Broth

Caldo de Peixe

Fish stew made with mackerel or cavala, potato, pumpkin, carrots, and vegetables in a tomato broth, served with rice and corn puree.

🇬🇼Guinea-Bissau

Funge

Cassava-flour dough cooked into a smooth Guinea-Bissau staple served with soups and stews.

🇬🇼Eastern Guinea-Bissau (Bafatá / Gabú Fula Pastoral), Guinea-Bissau

Fúti

Traditional Fula breakfast of rice with vegetables, palm oil, dried fish, nététu (fermented locust bean), bitter tomatoes (djagatu sinho), okra (candja), and hibiscus leaves (baguitchi); the name means 'mixed things' in Fula; a complete one-bowl meal from the eastern interior.

🇬🇲The Gambia

Gambian One-Pot Rice

Benachin

Rice cooked in one pot with tomato, onion, chilli, vegetables, and fish, chicken, or beef so every grain absorbs the seasoned sauce.

🇬🇲The Gambia

Gambian Oyster Stew

Oyster Stew

Oysters from the Gambia's creeks simmered with onion, pepper, palm oil, and other seafood into a quick, briny stew.

🇬🇼Eastern Guinea-Bissau (Bafatá / Gabú Fula Pastoral), Guinea-Bissau

Goat Rice

Arroz de Cabra

Rice dish cooked with goat meat, onions, and spices; a hearty one-pot meal where the rice absorbs the goat broth; goat is a common meat in Guinea-Bissau's interior regions where Fula and Mandinka pastoralists keep herds.

🇬🇼Bissau, Guinea-Bissau

Grilled Fish

Peixe Grelhado

Whole fish stuffed with herb, chili, garlic, and onion paste, marinated with lime and tamarind, then grilled over charcoal; an Atlantic coast specialty using the abundant fish from Guinea-Bissau's waters; the stuffing keeps the flesh moist and flavourful.

🇬🇲The Gambia

Groundnut Stew

Domoda

A thick groundnut stew made with peanut paste, tomato, onion, chilli, and meat or fish, usually with sweet potato, pumpkin, cassava, or carrot over rice.

🇸🇳Nouadhibou, Senegal

Guedj

Gejj

Fish salted and left to ferment and dry in the sun until hard, then broken into stews for depth.

🇬🇼Bissau, Guinea-Bissau

Guinean Chicken

Cafriela de Frango

Chicken marinated with lemon, garlic, and spices, then grilled or stewed; a Portuguese-influenced dish adapted with local Guinean seasoning; one of the dishes TasteAtlas lists for Guinea-Bissau.

🇬🇼Bissau, Guinea-Bissau

Guinean Chicken Rice Soup

Canja de Galinha

Comforting soup of chicken, rice, and aromatic seasonings; a Portuguese-influenced dish adapted in Guinea-Bissau with local chicken and rice; served when ill or as a light meal; the rice breaks down to thicken the broth.