Liberia
Akpi
Aromatic African nut used as a thickener and seasoning in Liberian soups and sauces.
western-africa
Liberia
Explore 47 foods connected to Liberia, from everyday staples to rare local specialties.
47 foods12 leading categories1 Essentials guides
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The local shortlist
Liberia Essentials
12 editor-selected foods for understanding the place through what people eat.
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The full directory
Traditional foods from Liberia.
47 foods in this view. Filter by category, type, rarity, or search every recorded name.
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Côte d'Ivoire
Alligator Pepper
A pungent West African spice sold as whole scaly pods and seeds, used sparingly to perfume Liberian soups, stews, rice, and ceremonial food.
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.
Liberia
Banana Rice Bread
Banana-Rice Bread
Liberian quick bread combining ripe banana with rice flour for a moist, fragrant crumb.
Liberia
Beniseed
Sesame seed used in Liberian sauces, breads and ground condiments.
Liberia
Bitterball
Liberian garden egg, known as bitterball, used as a distinct vegetable in soups and sauces.
Liberia
Bitterleaf Soup
Liberian soup built around washed bitterleaf greens, meat or fish and a savoury broth.
Liberia
Cassava Leaf Plassas
Cassava Leaf Soup
Sierra Leone's beloved cassava leaf stew: finely chopped cassava leaves slowly simmered with red palm oil, groundnuts, ogiri, smoked fish or meat, and scotch bonnet pepper until thick and dark green; a weekly staple eaten over rice.
Liberia
Cassava Leaf Stew
Cassava Leaf
Ground cassava leaves cooked with palm oil, meat or fish into a thick Liberian stew.
Liberia
Cassava Swallow
Dumboy
Fresh cassava is boiled, stripped of its fibers, pounded in a mortar, and shaped into smooth balls served with pepper soup, palm butter, or another wet stew.
Liberia
Coconut Rice
Liberian rice cooked with coconut milk and aromatics, served with fish, meat or vegetables.
Liberia
Collards and Cabbage
Chopped collard greens and cabbage cooked with onion, black and red pepper, and bacon or another meat, served with rice or fried plantain.
Liberia
Eddoes
Taro-like eddoes eaten in Liberia boiled or incorporated into soups and swallows.
Liberia
Fried Plantains
Ripe plantain slices fried until caramelised and served as a Liberian side or snack.
Liberia
Fufu
Liberian cassava swallow fermented or pounded into a smooth dough and served with soup or stew.
Liberia
Fufu
Akpu
Cassava soaked for days until it ferments, then pounded or wrapped and steamed into a soft, sour white swallow.
Sierra Leone
Ginger Beer
Ginga Bia
A fierce, homemade Sierra Leonean ginger drink made by boiling large amounts of fresh ginger root with water, sugar, and cloves, then chilling it; intensely spicy and sweet, it is the classic street refreshment.
Liberia
Glea-Gbar
GB
Boiled cassava pounded into a smooth, slippery swallow associated with the Gio and Mano peoples of Nimba County and eaten with pepper soup or palm butter.
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.
Liberia
Kala
Liberian sweet fried-dough balls made from flour, sugar and spices and sold as a breakfast snack.
Liberia
Kanyah
Roasted peanuts and garri pounded with sugar and honey into a dense, coarse confection cut into squares or rolled into balls for roadside snacking.
Liberia
Liberian Cabbage Stew
Cabbage Stew
Cabbage and beef or chicken simmered with tomato paste, onion, black pepper, and stock until tender, served beside rice, yam, plantain, or potato.
Liberia
Liberian Cassava Flour Bread
Cassava Flour Bread
A traditional loaf combining wheat flour with fermented, dried cassava flour, giving the bread a faintly tangy aroma and a denser, softer crumb.
Liberia
Liberian Chicken Gravy
Chicken Gravy
A special-occasion chicken stew with shrimp, green beans, bell pepper, tomato, onion, stock, ginger, garlic, hot pepper, and parsley, served with rice.
Liberia
Liberian Cornbread
Cornbread
A cake-like Liberian cornmeal bread bound with eggs, milk, butter, sugar, and nutmeg rather than the crumbly unsweetened style of American cornbread.
Liberia
Liberian Donuts
Donuts
Small sweet fried dough buns served warm at Liberian celebrations and street stalls.
Liberia
Liberian Jollof Rice
Jollof Rice
Liberian one-pot rice cooked in a seasoned tomato and pepper base with meat or fish.
Liberia
Liberian Meat Pies
Meat Pies
Americo-Liberian hand pies filled with seasoned minced meat and baked or fried.
Liberia
Liberian Okra Soup
Okra Soup
A Liberian okra soup thickened by sliced okra and cooked with seafood, meat or smoked fish.
Liberia
Liberian Palm Butter Soup
Palm Butter Soup
Palm fruit pulp cooked with fish or meat, dried crayfish, onion, garlic, okra, and hot peppers into a thick red soup served with rice or fufu.
Liberia
Liberian Peanut Soup
Peanut Soup
A hot peanut soup with beef or chicken, onion, bell pepper, celery, chilli, potatoes, okra, stock, and optional dried fish, served with rice.
Liberia
Liberian Pepper Sauce
Pepper Sauce
A fresh Liberian pepper condiment blended with chilli, onion, tomato and aromatics.
Liberia
Liberian Pepper Soup
Pepper Soup
A fiery Liberian broth of meat or fish, hot pepper, ginger and aromatic spices.
Liberia
Liberian Potato Greens
Potato Greens
Sweet-potato leaves cooked with fish or meat, crawfish, onion, garlic, chilli, and palm oil into a savoury soup eaten over rice.
Liberia
Liberian Rice and Gravy
Rice and Gravy
Plain steamed rice topped with a Liberian meat, fish, or vegetable gravy; the everyday meal format that lets each household's soup take centre stage.
Liberia
Liberian Rice Bread
Rice Bread
A lightly sweet Liberian quick bread made with rice flour, often enriched with banana or coconut.