Burkinabe cuisine

Burkinabe cuisine, the cuisine of Burkina Faso, is similar to the cuisines in many parts of West Africa, and is based on staple foods of sorghum, millet, rice, fonio, maize, peanuts, potatoes, beans, yams and okra.^[1] Rice, maize and millet are the most commonly eaten grains.^[2] Grilled meat is common, particularly mutton, goat, beef and fish.^[3]

Vegetables include yams and potatoes, okra, tomatoes, zucchini, carrots, leeks, onions, beets, pumpkins, cucumbers, cabbage, sorrel and spinach.^[2]

Although imported products are becoming more common in urban areas, meals in more rural areas typically consist of tô, a sauce of corchorus or baobab leaves, as well as the calyx from Bombax costatum, dried fish, and spices such as chili and soumbala.^[4]

Common dishes

A plate of foufou (right) accompanied with peanut soup

Location of Burkina Faso

• Tô (Saghbo in Mooré), cooled polenta-style cakes made from ground millet, sorghum or corn. Tô is served with a sauce made from vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, sumbala and carrots, sometimes supplemented by a piece of meat like mutton or goat.^[5] Eaten by hand, this traditional dish is the staple of the Burkinabe diet.^[3]
• French green beans
• Foufou
• Poulet Bicyclette, a grilled chicken dish common across West Africa.^[3]
• Ragout d'Igname, a yam stew dish native to Burkina
• Riz gras, rice cooked with onions, tomatoes and meat.^[2][3]
• Riz Sauce^{[clarification needed]}
• Sauce gombo, a sauce made with okra.
• Brochettes
• Poulet braisé, grilled chicken very popular in the city, almost all restaurants and bars offer this dish.
• Babenda, a stew of fermented beans, fish, cabbage, and/or spinach.^[6]

Restaurants generally serve Burkinabe dishes alongside those of neighbouring countries. Foreign dishes include a fish or meat stew called kédjénou from Côte d'Ivoire and poulet yassa, a chicken stew with lemon and onions from Senegal.^[3]

• 
  The fruit of the African Baobab tree
• 
  Foods being cooked in Burkina Faso
• 
  Preparing tô

Common beverages

• Bissap/Bisap, a sour-tasting drink made from Roselle (Bissap) flowers in the Hibiscus family,^[7] sweetened with sugar
• Degue, a drink made from pearl millet and yogurt
• Dôlo, a beer made from pearl millet or sorghum^[8]
• Tédo, also called Pain de Sainge, baobab fruit
• Yamaccu or Yammaccudji, beverage made of ginger
• Zomekome, a soft drink made from millet flour, ginger, lemon juice and tamarind^[1]
• Tamarin^{[clarification needed]}
• Jus de Weda or Jus de Liane

See also

• Togolese cuisine
• List of African cuisines

References

1. "Oxfam's Cool Planet - Food in Burkina Faso". Oxfam. Archived from the original on 2012-05-17. Retrieved 2008-05-21.
2. Liza Debrevic. "Burkina Faso". In Ken Albala (ed.). Food Cultures of the World. ABC-CLIO. pp. 23–30.
3. Marchais, Julien (9 December 2006). Burkina Faso (in French). Petit Futé. p. 99. ISBN 2-7469-1601-0.
4. Mette Lykke, Anne; Mertz, Ole; Ganaba, Souleymane (2002). "Food consumption in rural Burkina Faso". Ecology of Food and Nutrition. 41 (2): 119–153. doi:10.1080/03670240214492. S2CID 72526570.
5. Gibbon, Ed (2005). The Congo Cookbook: African Food Recipes. OCLC 761178200.
6. "Burkina Faso Food and Drink". World Travel Guide. 2019. Retrieved 2019-01-16.
7. Grubben, G. J. H. (2004). Vegetables: Vegetables (PROTA 2). PROTA. p. 321. ISBN 90-5782-147-8.
8. Steinkraus, Keith (2004). Industrialization of Indigenous Fermented Foods. CRC Press. p. 273. ISBN 0-8247-4784-4.