Experiencing the local food scene when travelling is key to unlocking a deeper understanding of any culture. This is especially so in West Africa, where a rich culinary heritage is central to the region’s cultural identity.
West African cuisine reflects the region’s eventful history spanning millennia and its diverse topography – encompassing everything from dense emerald-green mangroves, expansive lagoons and glittering wetlands to the drier sun-bleached regions and pulsing urban neighbourhoods. Culinary traditions demonstrate the revered intimacy between communities and their land and the innovative spirit of the local people.
To experience West African food is to experience the philosophies that define and unite many West African cultures. Different foods have their own cultural significance, playing an important role in social rites, ceremonies and customs. From the humble kola nut, presented to guests as a symbol of hospitality from Benin to Sierra Leone, to log-like yams gifted to symbolise strength and/or fertility, West African foods reveal additional insights into the cultures behind them.
What to expect from West African dishes
While there are regional nuances, trade and movement between communities – which spans colonial borders – and the abundance of certain ingredients across the region means that there are parallels between the cuisines of West African countries.
Starchy staples like rice, fleshy and tuberous yams and cassava, plantain and millet cement many meals. These can be pounded into submission to form fluffy, billowy folds, whisked into smooth, creamy porridges, boiled, steamed or fried. Native greens, such as the leaves of root vegetables or a wide variety of amaranths, are stirred into nutritious, pulpy stews. Fresh and dried seafood, as well as beef, lamb, chicken and guinea fowl, are common additions.
Red peppers and tomatoes enhance the sweet earthiness of popular West African dishes like Ghanaian red red (creamy stewed native beans) or mtopo mtopo (a chunky, brothy yam pottage). Spices like warming calabash nutmeg and peppery uziza, and ferments such as ogiri (fermented oil seeds) give West African dishes their ultra-savoury, complex flavour profile. While dessert is not a vital component of the dining culture, those with a sweet tooth should look out for treats such as rice pudding-like caakiri made with local grains and yoghurt, or cooling akpan – fermented maize mixed with condensed milk and ice.
Here are eight traditional foods and beverages to try during your travels across West Africa on Intrepid’s new trips through Senegal and The Gambia and Benin, Togo and Ghana.
1. Yassa (Senegal, Gambia)
A signature Senegambian dish, yassa is loved for its bright and zesty flavour. Chicken (or sometimes fish or lamb) is cooked with a generous amount of treacly caramelised onions, as well as citrus and mustard. It’s usually paired with rice, to complement its full-bodied taste, and dotted with olives for an extra smack of brininess. Enjoyed as a family favourite, you’ll find yassa at most local restaurants, especially across Dakar’s thrumming neighbourhoods.
2. Bissap (Senegal, Togo, Gambia) / Sobolo (Ghana)
Bissap is a refreshing drink made by steeping dried hibiscus with sugar, water, citrus fruits and warming spices such as clove and cinnamon. Typically enjoyed chilled, it has an invigorating and slightly tart, berry-like flavour and is easily identified by its deep beetroot colour. Bissap is found all over West Africa; for instance, it is known as sobolo in Ghana and zobo in Nigeria. You can give it a sip at street stalls and local bars, or find it infused into creative mocktails and cocktails at trendy, higher-end spots.
3. Kelewele and kebabs (Ghana)
Kelewele is a popular street food made from pieces of very ripe, sweet and sticky plantain marinated with a spirited blend of ginger, garlic and chilli, and then fried until honey-brown. This snack or side dish is often paired with skewered grilled meat – usually beef. You’ll find kelewele sputtering in oil and kebabs being turned over jolting flames at many roadside stalls across Accra.
4. Thieboudienne (Senegal)
Thieboudienne is regarded as the crown jewel in Senegal‘s diverse and vibrant culinary culture. Drawing from the natural abundance of seafood across the coast of Senegal, the dish sees a fresh, local catch – usually a white fish – simmered with a rainbow of vegetables such as silky aubergine and mixed bell peppers and rice. A blend of tomato, scotch bonnet and aromatics like green and white onion add depth, and tamarind is often used to add a lively, tangy kick.
Typically served in generous bowls to be enjoyed in groups, thieboudienne has come to symbolise the Senegalese ethos of teranga – a philosophy of sharing and enjoying time with others, whether loved ones or new connections. Tuck into a bounteous thieboudienne at Dakar’s markets, or at local restaurants – no-frills joints and smarter spots alike.
5. Mafe (Senegal) / Domoda (The Gambia) / Nkatenkwan (Ghana)
Senegalese mafe, or Gambian domoda, is a lush and buttery peanut stew. It often includes tomato, peppers, succulent pieces of chicken, beef or lamb, as well as root and leafy vegetables to enhance the hearty stew’s nutty, savoury and subtly spicy flavour. Variations of peanut stews ranging from soupier to more unctuous textures are popular across West Africa, including, for example, Malian tigadèguèna. The Togolese rendition is known as asindessi and in Benin it is called aziin nusunnu.
Often eaten as a weekend treat, peanut stew is served alongside rice, millet or rice dough, or fufu (pounded starchy root vegetable), making for a solid and comforting meal. For a more traditional experience, enjoy it spooned fresh from a bubbling vat at local casual restaurants.
6. Sodabi (Benin, Togo) / Akpeteshie (Ghana)
Sodabi is an alcoholic spirit distilled from the fermented sap of palm trees. A harmonious blend of sweet, fruity and festive spice flavours, it can be unsuspectingly potent (you’ve been warned!), though the alcohol content varies depending on the distillation process used. The spirit has been imbibed for centuries across West Africa (a popular Nigerian variety is known as ògógóró) and has a history as warrior’s drink.
You’ll find a bottle on the table at most social gatherings, as it’s the tipple of choice to toast to good times and commemorate celebrations and rites of passage. It also plays an important role in some spiritual and religious ceremonies, where it can be used to cast away evil spirits or offered as a gift to the deceased to help keep them content in the afterlife.
Pleasantly drinkable with a gentle, syrupy burn in the stomach, you can enjoy sodabi neat as an aperitif or digestif at a local bar or restaurant, or sip on highballs with tropical notes mixed with premium homegrown sodabi brands at cocktail bars.
7. Kenkey and fish (Ghana)
Kenkey is made from fermented corn dough, hence its unique, slightly puckery kick. It’s eaten all over Ghana but is especially popular in coastal areas as it is traditionally paired with crispy, salty, fried fish – as well as a fiery red pepper sauce. You’ll find vendors that specialise in kenkey offering this ubiquitous dish. It’s also a popular menu item at ‘chop bars’ (casual roadside joints which take their name from the local pidgin term for ‘eat’).
8. Gbomo dessi (Togo)
This nutritious Togolese tomato-based stew is packed with spinach or native leafy greens. it is simmered with onions, garlic, chillies and the indigenous unrefined red palm oil (not to be confused with non-local, commercial palm oil) that perfumes nearly all West African dishes with its nutty and floral tang.
The stew is usually further seasoned with gbotemi – a fragrant Togolese spice blend that mixes toasted and finely ground cloves, anise, carom, ginger and cardamom, resulting in a distinctly aromatic flavour profile. Chicken, beef, shrimp, crab or smoked fish can also be added, and it’s usually served with either rice, or akoumé or ablo (steamed dumplings made from millet, rice, corn and/or cassava flours) for an undoubtedly satisfying dinner.
Take your taste buds on a journey through Senegal & The Gambia or Benin, Togo & Ghana with Intrepid’s new West Africa trips. Find out what else is new in Africa and beyond for 2025 with The Goods.
