the appetizer:

West African cuisine is heavy with starch, light on meat and generous on fat. Cooks in West Africa often use root vegetables like yams, cocoyams, and cassava, as well as cereal grains, plantains, hot spices, rice, peanuts, black-eyed peas, okra, green peas, citrus fruits, and pineapples.

Destinations African woman  

West Africa

What to Eat

A typical meal in West Africa is heavy on starchy foods, light on meat, generous on fat and commonly cooked in one pot. Other than that, the most telling characteristic of an African dish is heat: chile peppers are used beyond what we would begin to think of as hot. The most notorious peppers, the Scotch Bonnets and the pilli pilli, earn respect from even the most dedicated chile-heads. Equatorial climates all tend to encourage the use of chiles, as these hot foods produce the effect of "gustatory sweating"—distinguished from other types of bodily perspiration and resulting in an overall cooling effect.

West African cuisine bears more seafood than the rest of the continent, and unlike most other cultures, mixes seafood and meats together in many dishes. Most dishes are some form of stew, allowing for the stringy, poorer quality lamb and goats to be used, and chickens and eggs are commonly served throughout Africa.

Peanuts can be found in just about anything, from soups and stews to garnishes, snacks and pounded into a paste. West Africa is blessed with rain, resulting in rice as the predominant starchy food, while corn, millet and sorghum dishes are featured on the rest of the continent.

Along with rice, yams, sweet potatoes, cassava and potatoes and root vegetables fill the bellies of the people, as do plantains. All can be cooked in multiple ways: roasted, baked, boiled, mashed, with cinnamon, or sugar or oil or in a range of both sweet and savory dishes.

West Africa

West African Recipes

Cookbooks with Recipes

Back to the main West Africa page

Africa on Wikipedia

Ghana on Wikipedia

The Omanhene Cocoa Bean Company

Senegal on Wikipedia

More country Destinations

 

 
 

This page modified January 2007


 

The Global Gourmet
Return to the
Global Gourmet®
Main Page

 

Memorial Day Recipes
Memorial Day Recipes

 

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

AddThis Feed Button

 

Global Gourmet®
Shopping
Gourmet Food, Cookbooks
Kitchen Gadgets & Gifts

 
Search this site:

Advanced Search

 

Departments

Kate's Global Kitchen
Kate's Books
Cookbook Profiles
Global Destinations
I Love Desserts
On Wine
Shopping

new green basics New Green Basics
cooking kids Cooking with Kids

Archives
Conversions, Charts
   & Substitutions

Forums/Message Boards
Search

About the
Global Gourmet®
   Contact Info
   Advertising
   Feedback
   Privacy Statement

 
IACP Cookbook
Award Winners

Fish Forever
Local Breads
Asian Flavors (Jean-Georges)
Morimoto: Japanese Cooking
Chocolates & Confections
Julia Child
Cook with Jamie
The World Atlas of Wine
Food: The History of Taste
Cook Everything Vegetarian
All Cookbook Winners

JBF Cookbook
Award Nominees

Egg
My Bombay Kitchen
Revolutionary Chinese
A Baker's Odyssey
Great Bar Food at Home
Chez Jacques
Super Natural Cooking
Lidia's Italy
Geography of Oysters
Cheese Essentials
Vegetable Harvest
All Cookbook Nominees

Classic Cookbooks

Betty Crocker Why It Works
The Bon Appétit Cookbook
Joy of Cooking
Fifth Taste...Umami
The Professional Chef
New American Cooking
Vegetable Love

 
 

 
 

Copyright © 1994-2008,
Forkmedia LLC

 

 

 
 

Become a Chef:
Best Culinary Schools

 

Everything Kitchens
Coffee Makers, Blenders
Espresso Machines

 

The California Wine Club
Wine of the Month Clubs
Monthly Wine Club Gifts

 

Cheap Flights
Online Shopping

 

Groomsmen Gifts
Grooms Wedding Guide
Bridesmaids Gifts

 

Mom's Recipes

 
 

 
 

Yogurt Maker
Small Appliances
& Gift Ideas

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Tenerife
Weight Loss Diet
Women's Vests
Vending Machines