Togo

🇳🇬Nigeria

Ogogoro

Ògógóró

Distilled palm wine, clear and strong, made in the creeks of the Niger Delta and known locally as 'push me I push you'.

🇹🇬Togo

Palava Sauce

A Togolese leafy stew of greens, onion, pepper and fish or meat.

🇹🇬Togo

Palm Nut Soup

Déku Déssi

A thick, red-orange palm nut soup from Togo, simmered with beef, offal, smoked fish, or crab; rich in palm oil and deeply savoury, traditionally eaten with akoumé or fufu.

🇬🇲Guinée Forestière (Nzérékoré / Forest), The Gambia

Palm Wine

Emu

Sap tapped from a palm tree and fermenting from the moment it is collected — milky, sweet in the morning, sour and stronger by evening.

🇸🇹Sao Tome and Principe

Palm Wine

Djogo

Traditional Santomean palm wine; called djogo locally; made from the sap of palm trees; sweet, tangy, and slightly alcoholic; a traditional drink of the islands; served at gatherings and celebrations; the palm wine of Sao Tome; a refreshing fermented beverage.

🇹🇬Togo

Pinon

A Togolese gari-based dish, a quick-cooking dry-cassava couscous that is moistened and fluffed, often coloured red with palm oil and served with meat or fish sauce; comes in red and white versions.

🇨🇮Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire

Poisson Braisé

Whole tilapia or bar scored, stuffed with herbs and grilled over charcoal until the skin blisters, then served with attiéké and moyo.

🇨🇩DR Congo

Poisson Braisé Congolais

Poisson braisé

Grilled fish, a popular Congolese dish; fish from the Congo River and its tributaries; typically tilapia or capitaine (Nile perch); grilled whole over charcoal with spices and pili-pili; the riverside nganda restaurants serve baked fish with cooked plantains; a staple for communities along the Congo River; the grilled fish of the Congo; found at every riverside restaurant.

🇨🇲Cameroon

Poulet DG

Chicken fried with ripe plantain, carrot, green bean and pepper in a tomato sauce — the dish named for the Directeur Général who could afford it.

🇳🇬Nigeria

Puff Puff

Balls of sweetened yeast batter dropped into hot oil by hand and fried until deep brown and hollow inside.

🇹🇬Togo

Pâté

Togolese corn dough cooked into a soft staple and served with pepper, okra or leafy sauces.

🇬🇭Ghana

Red Red

Black-eyed peas stewed with palm oil, tomato, onion and chilli until deep orange, served with fried ripe plantain and gari.

🇹🇬Togo

Riz Gras

Rice cooked in a tomato, onion and pepper base with meat or fish until it takes the colour and the fat of the sauce.

🇹🇬Togo

Sauce Adémè

A slimy sauce made from leafy greens (corète/spinach); a traditional Beninese sauce; the leaves give it a mucilaginous texture similar to okra; served with pâte.

🇹🇬Togo

Sauce Adémè

Adémè Déssi

A silky, mucilaginous Togolese stew made from adémè leaves (jute mallow/corète potagère) cooked with palm oil, onion, tomato, and smoked fish or meat; smooth and slightly sticky, served with akoumé.

🇹🇬Togo

Sauce Arachide

Miyan Geda

A rich, creamy Togolese peanut sauce simmered with chicken, beef, or fish, tomatoes, onion, and palm oil; one of the most common sauces and a key partner to akoumé and fufu.

🇲🇱Mali

Sauce d'Arachide

A Malian peanut sauce served over tô or rice; listed in Wikipedia's Malian cuisine; meat simmered in a rich peanut sauce with tomatoes, onions, and spices; similar to tigadeguena but may vary in preparation; a foundational sauce of Malian cuisine; the peanut is the defining ingredient; a hearty, nutty, and satisfying dish.

🇨🇮Côte d'Ivoire

Sauce Feuille

Cassava or potato leaves pounded fine and simmered for hours with palm oil, smoked fish and sometimes peanut paste into a dark green sauce.

🇹🇬Togo

Sauce Feuille

Gboma Déssi

A hearty Togolese leaf stew made with gboma (a local leafy green), spinach, beef, smoked fish, crab, dried shrimp, and palm oil; often called the national dish and served with akoumé or fufu.

🇹🇬South (Cotonou / Porto-Novo / Fon-Yoruba), Togo

Sauce Gboman

A tomato-based sauce with local spinach and leafy greens; a southern Benin specialty; served with wô or akassa; a nutritious everyday sauce.

🇨🇮Côte d'Ivoire

Sauce Gombo

Fresh okra grated to a slippery green sauce with smoked fish, pepper and sometimes soumbara, eaten by drawing threads of it up with a ball of foutou.

🇲🇱Mali

Sauce Gombo

A sticky, viscous okra sauce served over tô or rice; the okra is pounded to release its mucilage, creating the characteristic slippery texture; a beloved Malian sauce also called 'sauce noire' (black sauce); one of the most common sauces in Malian cuisine; eaten with meat or fish; the texture is the tell of a good version.

🇧🇯Benin

Sauce Goussi

A sauce made from ground pumpkin seeds (egusi); thick and nutty; served with akassa, piron, or wassa-wassa; a beloved Beninese sauce; rich in protein.

🇨🇮Côte d'Ivoire

Sauce Graine

Palm nuts boiled and pounded, the pulp strained and cooked down with fish, crab or beef until the bright red oil rises to the top.

🇧🇯South (Cotonou / Porto-Novo / Fon-Yoruba), Benin

Sodabi

Distilled palm wine alcohol; 40-60% ethanol; a traditional spirit from Allada in southern Benin; the strong drink of celebrations and ceremonies; also called koutoukou.

🇳🇪Niger

Suya

Thin strips of beef threaded on sticks, coated in yaji — a groundnut, chilli and spice rub — and grilled over open coals, then dusted with more yaji.

🇹🇬South (Cotonou / Porto-Novo / Fon-Yoruba), Togo

Tchakpalo

A fermented maize, sorghum, or millet beer; slightly sweet; a southern Benin specialty; lighter than tchoukoutou; served fresh in calabashes.

🇹🇬North (Parakou / Borgou / Bariba), Togo

Tchoukoutou

A traditional beer from fermented millet, sorghum, or maize; high alcohol content; a northern Benin specialty; brewed by women; the social drink of the north.

🇧🇯Benin

Telibɔ̌ wɔ̌

Télibô wô

A black paste made from dried yam flour; light and easily digestible; a central and northern Benin specialty; served with various sauces.

🇹🇬Togo

Timbani

A traditional Togolese dish of smoked or dried meat and fish, rehydrated in a thick tomato and palm-oil sauce; rich, smoky, and typically eaten with akoumé.

🇹🇬Togo

Togolese Banana Fritters

Klako

Togolese banana fritters: ripe bananas mashed with a little flour and sugar, shaped into small patties and deep-fried until caramelised and golden; a favourite sweet snack.

🇹🇬Togo

Togolese Bean Dish

Veyi

A traditional Togolese bean dish of black-eyed peas or cowpeas simmered in palm oil, onion, and tomato until soft and creamy; a simple, protein-rich meal often served with akoumé or fried plantain.

🇹🇬Togo

Togolese Chilli Pepper

Piment

Fresh and dried chillies are indispensable in Togolese cooking; used raw in yébésséssi, dried in sauces, and as a table condiment; the heat level varies from mild to very hot Scotch bonnet.

🇹🇬Togo

Togolese Pepper Sauce

Yébésséssi

A fiery raw Togolese condiment of fresh tomato, Scotch bonnet or bird's-eye chillies, onion, garlic, and salt, pounded or blended and served as an essential table sauce; its name literally means 'lots of chilli' in Ewe.

🇧🇯Benin

Tévi

Fried yam slices; a popular street food across Benin; crispy outside, tender inside; sold in paper cones with pili-pili; a cheap, filling snack.

🇬🇭Ghana

Waakye

Ayimolou

Rice and cowpeas boiled together with dried sorghum leaves, which stain the whole pot reddish-brown, served with a spread of sides.