Beninese cuisine involves many fresh meals served with a variety of sauces. Meat is usually quite expensive, and meals are generally light on meat and generous on

vegetable fat Vegetable oils, or vegetable fats, are oils extracted from seeds or from other parts of fruits. Like animal fats, vegetable fats are ''mixtures'' of triglycerides. Soybean oil, grape seed oil, and cocoa butter are examples of seed oils, or fa ...

. In southern Benin cuisine, the most common ingredient is

corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. The ...

, often used to prepare dough which is mainly served with peanut- or tomato-based

sauce In cooking, a sauce is a liquid, cream, or semi-solid food, served on or used in preparing other foods. Most sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavor, moisture, and visual appeal to a dish. ''Sauce'' is a French word ...

s. Fish and chicken are the most common meats used in southern Beninese cuisine, but

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantity ...

, pork, goat and

bush rat The bush rat or Australian bush rat (''Rattus fuscipes'') is a small Australian nocturnal animal. It is an omnivore and one of the most common indigenous species of rat on the continent, found in many heathland areas of Victoria and New South ...

are also consumed. Meats are often fried in palm or peanut oil. Rice,

bean A bean is the seed of several plants in the family Fabaceae, which are used as vegetables for human or animal food. They can be cooked in many different ways, including boiling, frying, and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes thr ...

s, tomatoes and

couscous Couscous ( '; ber, ⵙⴽⵙⵓ, translit=Seksu) – sometimes called kusksi or kseksu – is a Maghrebi dish of small steamed granules of rolled durum wheat semolina that is often served with a stew spooned on top. Pearl millet, sorghum, bu ...

are also significant

staple food A staple food, food staple, or simply a staple, is a food that is eaten often and in such quantities that it constitutes a dominant portion of a standard Diet (nutrition), diet for a given person or group of people, supplying a large fraction of ...

s. Fruits are common in this region, including mangoes,

mandarin orange The mandarin orange (''Citrus reticulata''), also known as the mandarin or mandarine, is a small citrus tree fruit. Treated as a distinct species of orange, it is usually eaten plain or in fruit salads. Tangerines are a group of orange-coloure ...

orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...

kiwifruit Kiwifruit (often shortened to kiwi in North American, British and continental European English) or Chinese gooseberry is the edible berry of several species of woody vines in the genus ''Actinidia''. The most common cultivar group of kiwifru ...

, avocados, pineapples and peanuts. Yams are the main staple in northern Benin, and are also often served with peanut- or tomato-based sauces. The population in the northern provinces uses beef and pork meat which is also fried in palm or peanut oil or cooked in sauces.

Cheese Cheese is a dairy product produced in wide ranges of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. During production, ...

is also frequently used in some dishes.

Food preparation

Frying in palm or peanut oil is the most common meat preparation, and

smoked fish Smoked fish is fish that has been cured by smoking. Foods have been smoked by humans throughout history. Originally this was done as a preservative. In more recent times fish is readily preserved by refrigeration and freezing and the smoking of ...

is also commonly prepared in Benin. Grinders are used to prepare

corn flour Cornflour may refer to: * Cornflour (in the UK), corn starch, from the endosperm of the kernel of the corn (maize) grain * Corn flour (in the US and elsewhere), very finely ground cornmeal, ground from dried maize See also * Flour * Starch * G ...

, which is made into a dough and served with sauces. "Chicken on the spit" is a traditional recipe in which chicken is roasted over fire on wooden sticks. Palm roots are sometimes tenderized by soaking in a jar with saltwater and sliced garlic, then used in various dishes. Many people have mud stoves for cooking and also mud pots which are used to preserve the meal, and mud pots are used to store water; these pots are usually kept outside the home.

Specialty foods

Wagasi cheese

Wagasi Wagasi is a type of West African cheese made from cow's milk. It is commonly made by the Fulani people, especially those of Northern Benin. It is sold in abundance in Parakou, a city in Central Benin. It is also found across West African countri ...

is a specialty cows'-milk cheese of northern Benin made by the Fulani people, and is abundantly available in cities such as

Parakou Parakou is the largest city in northern Benin, with an estimated population of around 206,667 people, and capital of the Borgou Department. Administratively the commune of Parakou makes up one of Benin's 77 communes. Since 2015, its mayor is Sou ...

. It is a soft cheese with a mild flavor and a red rind, and used often in Beninese cooking.

Àkàrà

''Àkàrà'' is a dish made from peeled

black-eyed pea The black-eyed pea or black-eyed bean is a legume grown around the world for its medium-sized, edible bean. It is a subspecies of the cowpea, an Old World plant domesticated in Africa, and is sometimes simply called a cowpea. The common comme ...

s formed into a ball and then deep-fried in red palm oil. It is found in most parts of the Republic of Benin, Nigeria and Ghana.

Other specialty foods

The following summarizes some other Beninese specialty dishes and foods: * ''Akassa''—fermented corn dough served with a sauce *'' Akpan''—corn dumplings, dipped in a sauce *''

Aloko Fried plantain is a dish cooked wherever plantains grow, from West Africa to East Africa as well as Central America, the tropical region of northern South America and the Caribbean countries like Haiti to Cuba and in many parts of Southeast ...

—''fried plantain *'' Amiwo'': red corn dough, often made with tomato puree, onion and peppers and served with a sauce *''Beignets—''cake made of roasted peanuts, cooked in oil *Dough—corn dough, usually soaked in sauces *'' Fufu'': mashed yams formed into a paste *'' Garri''—a popular West African food made from cassava tubers *''Moyo'': a sauce usually served with fried fish, consisting of tomato sauce, onion and peppers *''Igname pilée''—pounded yams with tambo chili, tomatoes, onion, chicken consome and peanuts with beef

Beverages

''Choukoutou'' or "''chouk''" is a Beninese millet beer commonly consumed in northern Benin, and shipped to southern Benin by railway and roadways. Sodabi is a liquor made from wine palm, and often consumed at events and ceremonies.

References

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