Niger

🇬🇭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

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.

🇳🇪Niger

Alkaki

Nigerien fried dough pieces coated in honey or sugar syrup for a sweet snack.

🇳🇪Kano, Niger

Alkaki

Twisted lengths of wheat dough deep-fried and soaked in sugar syrup, made in the north for Sallah.

🇳🇪Niger

Alkubus

Steamed Hausa-Fulani bread made from a fermented grain batter and served with soup or stew.

🇨🇲Cameroon

Banga Soup

Banga

Palm fruit pulp boiled and sieved into a red, oily broth spiced with beletientien and other Delta herbs, cooked with catfish or beef.

🇧🇫Burkina Faso

Baobab Leaf Sauce

Sauce feuilles de baobab

A thick sauce from fresh or dried baobab leaves with potash, soumbala, and meat or fish; the leaves are mucilaginous and thicken the sauce; used in 64% of tô sauces in Burkina Faso.

🇹🇬Togo

Bean Fritters

Gawou

Crispy Togolese bean fritters made from skinned black-eyed peas blended with onion, chilli, and salt, then deep-fried into golden balls; a popular morning or afternoon market snack.

🇳🇪Niger

Bean Soup

Miyan Wake

A simple, filling Nigerien soup of cowpeas or black-eyed peas cooked in palm oil with onion, tomato, pepper, and dried fish or meat; a humble, protein-rich stew served with tuwo.

🇬🇭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.

🇬🇭Ghana

Bofrot

Botokoin

Sweetened yeast dough dropped by the spoonful into hot oil and fried into round, chewy balls.

🇹🇬Togo

Brochettes

Tsire

Togolese grilled meat skewers, usually beef, goat, chicken liver, or mutton, marinated in ginger, garlic, chilli, and peanut-spice seasoning, then grilled over charcoal; sold on the street with sliced onion, tomato, and bread.

🇧🇫Burkina Faso

Burkinabè Cowpea

Niébé

Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), the major legume of Burkina Faso; drought-resistant and protein-rich; used in benga, gonré, and beignets; called benga in Mooré and sôsô in Dioula.

🇨🇲Cameroon

Chichinga

Brochettes

Beef or chicken threaded on skewers, rubbed in a spiced groundnut and chilli powder and grilled over coals.

🇳🇬Nigeria

Coconut Candy

Grated coconut cooked with sugar and a little milk until it caramelises, then dried into hard chewy pieces.

🇧🇯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.

🇳🇪Niger

Dambou

A festive Zarma and Songhai couscous-like dish from Niger: steamed granules of rice, millet, or fonio fluffed with moringa leaves, onion, chilli, groundnut, and sometimes dried fish or meat; served at weddings and celebrations.

🇳🇪Niger

Dambun Shinkafa

Flaked and seasoned rice preparation associated with Hausa cooking in Niger.

🇳🇪Niger

Dan Wake

Small bean-flour dumplings served with pepper, oil and onion in northern Niger.

🇳🇪Kano, Niger

Dan Wake

Northern dumplings of bean and cassava flour boiled and tossed with oil, chilli, onion and kuli kuli crumbs.

🇳🇪Niger

Dankuwa

A sweet and spicy Nigerien snack of roasted groundnuts, millet or maize, sugar, ginger, and cloves, pounded and shaped into small balls or bars; energy-dense and popular in the north.

🇳🇪Niger

Dawa Dawa

Fermented African locust bean condiment, called dawa dawa in Hausa; pungent, umami-rich, and used as a natural flavour enhancer in virtually every Nigerien soup, replacing or supplementing bouillon cubes.

🇬🇭Ghana

Dawadawa

Dawa Dawa

African locust bean seeds fermented, pounded and pressed into dark cakes with a powerful savoury smell.

🇳🇪Niger

Donkwa

Hausa peanut-and-corn snack ground and shaped into small, portable balls.

🇳🇬Nigeria

Donkwa

Roasted groundnuts and maize or rice ground with pepper, ginger and sugar and pressed into balls or bars.

🇳🇪Niger

Dried Okra Soup

Miyan Kubewa

A thick, fragrant Nigerien okra soup made with dried okra pods, beef, dried fish, vegetable oil, onion, pepper, ginger, and dawa dawa; darker and richer than fresh okra soups, with a deep, savoury flavour.

🇳🇪Niger

Eghajira

A thick, sweet Tuareg drink of pounded millet, dates, goat cheese, milk, and sugar, eaten with a ladle at festivals and special occasions in northern Niger; filling and celebratory.

🇳🇬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.

🇲🇱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.

🇳🇪Niger

Fura da Nono

Balls of spiced millet dough crumbled into fermented cow's milk and drunk thick from a calabash — the Fulani herder's staple.

🇳🇪Niger

Groundnut Drink

Kunun Gyada

A creamy, refreshing Nigerien drink made from raw groundnuts, rice, ginger, and sugar, blended and strained until smooth; nutty, mildly sweet, and often sold cold in reused bottles.

🇬🇭Ghana

Groundnut Soup

Nkatenkwan

Peanut paste cooked out with tomato, onion, ginger and chilli into a thick soup with chicken, goat or dried fish.

🇳🇪Niger

Groundnut Soup

Miyan Geda

A creamy Nigerien soup of roasted groundnut paste, meat, dried fish, tomato, onion, and leafy greens; thick, nutty, and slightly sweet, it is a staple sauce for tuwo shinkafa and tuwo masara.

🇳🇪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.

🇬🇳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.