Sierra Leone

Àkàrà (English: bean cake; Hausa: kosai; Portuguese: acarajé ( Portuguese pronunciation: [akaɾaˈʒɛ] ⓘ) is a type of fritter made from cowpeas or beans (black-eyed peas) by the Yoruba people of Nigeria, Benin and Togo. It is found throughout West African, Caribbean, and Brazilian cuisines. The dish is traditionally encountered in Brazil's northeastern state of Bahia, especially in the city of Salvador. Acarajé serves as both a religious offering to the gods in the Candomblé religion and as street food. The dish was brought by enslaved Nigerian citizens from West Africa, and can still be found in various forms in Nigeria, Benin and Togo. Akara is made from peeled beans (black-eyed peas), washed and ground with pepper, and other preferred seasonings, then beaten to aerate them, and deep-fried in small balls. Brazilian acarajé is made from raw and milled cowpeas that are seasoned with salt, pepper and chopped onions molded into the shape of a large scone and deep-fried in dendê with a wok-like pan in front of the customers. It is served split in half and stuffed with vatapá and caruru – spicy pastes made from shrimp,ground cashews, palm oil and other ingredients. A vegetarian version is typically served with hot peppers and green tomatoes. Acarajé can also come in a second form called abará, where the nutritious ingredients are steamed instead of deep-fried.

Stewed beans and rice

Fried, grilled, stewed

Peppersoup is a soup from Nigeria, made using various meats or fishes, chili peppers, scent leaves and calabash nutmeg as the primary ingredients. It is a spicy soup that has a light, watery texture. Despite its name, the soup is not necessarily defined by a pepper-forward flavor profile, that is, the flavors are much more complex, with nutty, bitter, woodsy, and floral notes, as well as warmth. It is considered to be a delicacy by some people in Western Africa, and some West Africans believe that the soup has some basic medicinal qualities. Pepper soup is a common soup in Nigeria that is prepared using various meats, fishes, chili peppers and calabash nutmeg as its primary ingredients. Pepper soup is very spicy and goes well with a cold beer or soft drink. While it is served as an appetizer at official gatherings, pepper soup is more popular at pubs. In Nigeria, it is served at "leisure spots" as a recreational or "feel good" dish. Pepper soup cubes, a pre-mixed blend of spices used in pepper soup, are manufactured by one Nigerian company. Pepper soup is typically a watery, soup. It can be prepared with combinations of various meats, such as fish, shrimp, tripe, oxtail, chicken, game, goat, beef or cow hide. Additional ingredients can include tomatoes, onion, green onions, garlic, sweet peppers, ginger, cloves, cinnamon and lime juice. Fufu, a food prepared from boiled and then pounded cassava or other tubers, is sometimes used as an ingredient, which thickens the soup and serves to impart a creamy texture. It is sometimes served with side dishes such as rice or boiled tubers, or served atop these ingredients. On the western coast of Africa, it is typically cooked outdoors in a cauldron.

Rice bread is a type of bread that is made from rice flour rather than wheat flour. Being gluten free, it will not cause adverse reactions for people with gluten intolerance. The Vietnamese banh mi is traditionally made with a mixture of wheat and rice flour, or sometimes exclusively the latter, resulting in an airy, crispy texture. Sierra Leonean and Liberian rice bread is traditionally made with rice flour, mashed ripe plantains, butter, eggs, baking soda, sugar, salt, water, and grated ginger.

Congee is a form of savoury rice porridge made by boiling rice in a large amount of water until the rice softens. Depending on rice-water ratio, the thickness of congee varies from a Western oatmeal porridge to a gruel. Since the history of rice cultivation in Asia stretches back to the Baiyue-inhabited lower Yangtze circa 10000 BC, congee is unlikely to have appeared before that date. Congee is typically served with side dishes, or it can be topped with meat, fish and pickled vegetables. Vivid experiences of eating or delivering thin congee as wartime or famine food often feature in diaries and chronicles. In some cultures, congee is eaten primarily as a breakfast food or late supper; some may also eat it as a substitute for rice at other meals. It is often considered suitable for the sick as a mild, easily digestible food.

Banana fritters

Beignet is a type of deep-fried pastry of French origin. It is commonly made from pâte à choux, but can also be made using rice flour (rice beignets) or yeast-leavened batters. Beignets can be served in a variety of preparations, the most common being dusted with confectioner’s sugar. The pastry is popular in French, Italian, and American cuisines. A traditional way beignets are prepared is using choux pastry dough. Otherwise known as the French-style beignet, this type of dough is typically made using butter, milk or water, sugar, flour, and salt. Choux pastry is versatile and is prepared differently by culture. The pâte à choux method is also the style of beignets that were introduced to New Orleans by French immigrants in the 1700s. Variations often include banana or plantain – popular fruits in the port city – or berries. Other variations include savory fillings such as meat and cheese fillings.

Sesame seed snacks

Sweet baked coconut squares

A gingersnap, ginger snap, ginger nut, or ginger biscuit is a biscuit flavoured with ginger. Ginger snaps are flavoured with powdered ginger and a variety of other spices, most commonly cinnamon, molasses and clove. There are many recipes. The brittle ginger nut style is a commercial version of the traditional fairings once made for market fairs now represented only by the Cornish fairing.[citation needed] Ginger nuts are not to be confused with pepper nuts, which are a variety of gingerbread, somewhat smaller in diameter, but thicker. In 2009, McVitie's Ginger Nuts were listed as the tenth most popular biscuit in the UK to dunk into tea. Ginger nuts are the most sold biscuit in New Zealand, normally attributed to its tough texture which can withstand dunking into liquid. Leading biscuit manufacturer Griffin's estimates 60 million of them are produced each year. This has become the title of a book, 60 Million Gingernuts, a chronicle of New Zealand records. In Australia, Arnott's Biscuits manufactures four different regional varieties of ginger nut to suit the tastes of people in different states.

Gingerbread refers to a broad category of baked goods, typically flavored with ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon and sweetened with honey, sugar, or molasses. Gingerbread foods vary, ranging from a moist loaf cake to forms nearly as crisp as a ginger snap. Originally, the term gingerbread referred to preserved ginger. It then referred to a confection made with honey and spices. Gingerbread is often used to translate the French term pain d'épices (lit. 'spice bread') or the German and Polish terms Pfefferkuchen and Piernik respectively (lit. 'pepper cake' because it used to contain pepper) or Lebkuchen (of unclear etymology; either Latin libum, meaning "sacrifice" or "sacrificial bread," or German Laib for loaf or German for life, leben). Pepper is also referenced in regional names like Norwegian pepperkaker or Czech perník (originally peprník). The meaning of gingerbread has evolved over time. For centuries the term referred to a traditional European pastry, very like a modern cookie, traditionally used to make gingerbread men. In the United States the first known recipe for "Soft gingerbread to be baked in pans" is found in Amelia Simmons' 1796 cookbook, American Cookery.

Roasted peanuts baked in a sweet sugar syrup, similar to peanut brittle

Peanut and rice confection similar to fudge

Sweet cake or fritter made with wheat flour, similar to a sweet biscuit

Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It has the highest sales in the world market for hot drinks. The seeds of the Coffea plant's fruits are separated to produce unroasted green coffee beans. The beans are roasted and then ground into fine particles typically steeped in hot water before being filtered out, producing a cup of coffee. It is usually served hot, although chilled or iced coffee is common. Coffee can be prepared and presented in a variety of ways . Sugar, sugar substitutes, milk, and cream are often added to mask the bitter taste or enhance the flavor.

Traditional ginger beer is a sweetened and carbonated, usually non-alcoholic beverage. Historically it was produced by the natural fermentation of prepared ginger spice, yeast and sugar. Current ginger beers are often manufactured rather than brewed, frequently with flavour and colour additives, with artificial carbonation. Ginger ales are not brewed.

Palm wine, known by several local names, is an alcoholic beverage created from the sap of various species of palm trees such as the palmyra, date palms, and coconut palms. It is known by various names in different regions and is common in various parts of Africa, the Caribbean, South America, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Micronesia. Palm wine production by smallholders and individual farmers may promote conservation as palm trees become a source of regular household income that may economically be worth more than the value of timber sold.[better source needed]

A soft drink is any water-based flavored drink, usually but not necessarily carbonated, and typically including added sweetener. Flavors used can be natural or artificial. The sweetener may be a sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, fruit juice, a sugar substitute (in the case of diet sodas), or some combination of these. Soft drinks may also contain caffeine, colorings, preservatives and other ingredients. Soft drinks are called "soft" in contrast with "hard" alcoholic drinks. Small amounts of alcohol may be present in a soft drink, but the alcohol content must be less than 0.5% of the total volume of the drink in many countries and localities if the drink is to be considered non-alcoholic. Types of soft drinks include lemon-lime drinks, orange soda, cola, grape soda, cream soda, ginger ale and root beer.

Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of Camellia sinensis, an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and northern Myanmar. Tea is also made, but rarely, from the leaves of Camellia taliensis. After plain water, tea is the most widely consumed drink in the world. There are many different types of tea; some have a cooling, slightly bitter, and astringent flavour, while others have profiles that include sweet, nutty, floral, or grassy notes. Tea has a stimulating effect in humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. An early credible record of tea drinking dates to the third century AD, in a medical text written by Chinese physician Hua Tuo. It was popularised as a recreational drink during the Chinese Tang dynasty, and tea drinking subsequently spread to other East Asian countries. Portuguese priests and merchants introduced it to Europe during the 16th century. During the 17th century, drinking tea became fashionable among the English, who started to plant tea on a large scale in British India.

Akpan, also known as akassa, is a fermented maize yogurt. A product of Togolese and Beninese cuisine, it is considered a dessert. Akpan is made by fermenting maize kernels or powder. The fermented maize is then bagged together with condensed milk and iced to create a sweet dessert. Some sources describe the dish as vegetable yogurt. The dessert is popular in Benin and Togo. In Benin, the dish is referred to as Akassa. It has a small consumer base in France.

Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle . Beef can be prepared in various ways; cuts are often used for steak, which can be cooked to varying degrees of doneness, while trimmings are often ground or minced, as found in most hamburgers. Beef contains protein, iron, and vitamin B12. Along with other kinds of red meat, high consumption is associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer and coronary heart disease, especially when processed. Beef has a high environmental impact, being a primary driver of deforestation with the highest greenhouse gas emissions of any agricultural product. 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 of their meat. Today, beef is the third most widely consumed meat in the world, after pork and poultry. As of 2018, the United States, Brazil, and China were the largest producers of beef.

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 commercial variety is called the California Blackeye; it is pale-colored with a prominent black spot. The American South has countless varieties, many of them heirloom, that vary in size from the small lady peas to very large ones. The color of the eye may be black, brown, red, pink, or green. All the peas are green when freshly shelled and brown or buff when dried. A popular variation of the black-eyed pea is the purple hull pea or mud-in-your-eye pea; it is usually green with a prominent purple or pink spot. The currently accepted botanical name for the black-eyed pea is Vigna unguiculata subsp. unguiculata, although previously it was classified in the genus Phaseolus. Vigna unguiculata subsp. dekindtiana is the wild relative and Vigna unguiculata subsp. sesquipedalis is the related asparagus bean. Other beans of somewhat similar appearance, such as the frijol ojo de cabra of northern Mexico, are sometimes incorrectly called black-eyed peas, and vice versa. The Black-eyed pea originates from West Africa and has been cultivated in China and India since prehistoric times. It was grown in Virginia since the 17th century by African slaves who were brought to America along with the indigenous plants from their homelands. The crop would also eventually prove popular in Texas. The planting of crops of black-eyed peas was promoted by George Washington Carver because, as a legume, it adds nitrogen to the soil and has high nutritional value. Throughout the South, the black-eyed pea is still a widely used ingredient today in soul food and cuisines of the Southern United States. The black-eye pea is cultivated throughout the world.

The chicken is a large and round short-winged bird, domesticated from the red junglefowl of Southeast Asia around 8,000 years ago. Most chickens are raised for food, providing meat and eggs; others are kept as pets or for cockfighting. Chickens are common and widespread domestic animals, with a total population of 23.7 billion as of 2018[update], and an annual production of more than 50 billion birds. A hen bred for laying can produce over 300 eggs per year. There are numerous cultural references to chickens in folklore, religion, and literature.

Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting tail-like abdomen, usually hidden entirely under the thorax .[a] They live in all the world's oceans, in freshwater, and on land, are generally covered with a thick exoskeleton, and have a single pair of pincers on each arm. They first appeared during the Jurassic period, around 200 million years ago.

Egusi sauce or Egusi Soup, traditionally Egusi or Obe Egusi in Yoruba, is a culinary sauce prepared with egusi seeds as a primary ingredient. Egusi seeds are the fat- and protein-rich seeds of certain cucurbitaceous plants. Egusi sauce is common and prevalent across Central Africa as mbíka, and may be served atop rice, cooked vegetables, or grilled meat, such as goat, chicken, beef, or fish. It may also be served atop fufu, omelettes, amala, and eba, among other foods. Egusi soup is also consumed in West Africa, sometimes with chicken. Egusi sauce is prepared by grinding egusi seeds, from which a paste is created. There are two methods of preparing egusi soup: 1. Frying method: Egusi paste is fried in palm oil before adding other ingredients.

Fried, grilled, stewed

Fried foods such as fried fish, fried chicken, smoked herring, akara, cassava, plantains, pasta

Fufu is a pounded meal found in West African cuisine. It is a Twi word that originates from the Akans in Ghana. The word has been expanded to include several variations of the pounded meal found in other African countries including Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, Cote D'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Benin, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, Angola and Gabon. It also includes variations in the Greater Antilles and Central America, where African culinary influence is high. Although the original ingredients for fufu are boiled cassava, plantains, and cocoyam, yams (Ghana), it is also made in different ways in other West African countries. In Ghana, Ivory Coast and Liberia, they use the method of separately mixing and pounding equal portions of boiled cassava with green plantain or cocoyam, or by mixing cassava/plantains or cocoyam flour with water and stirring it on a stove. Its thickness is then adjusted to personal preference, and it is eaten with broth-like soups. In Nigeria, fufu (akpu) is made solely from fermented cassava giving it its unique thickness compared to that found in other west African countries. It is eaten with a variety of soups with vegetables and lots of beef and fish. In recent years other flours, such as semolina, maize flour, or mashed plantains, may take the place of cassava flour. This is common for those in the diaspora or families that live in urban cities. Families in rural areas with access to farmland still maintain the original recipe of using cassava. Fufu is traditionally eaten with the fingers, and a small ball of it can be dipped into an accompanying soup or sauce. Before the Portuguese traders introduced cassava to Africa from Brazil in the 16th century, fufu was mainly made from cocoyam, plantain and yams. The traditional method of eating fufu is to pinch some of the fufu off in one's right hand fingers and form it into an easily ingested round ball. The ball is then dipped in the soup before being eaten.

Eggplant and tomato salad with coconut and peanuts

Goat meat is the meat of the domestic goat . The common name for goat meat is "goat meat", while meat from young goats can be called "kid meat", capretto (Italian), and cabrito (Spanish and Portuguese). In South Asian cuisine, mutton refers to goat meat. The culinary name "chevon", a blend of chèvre "goat" in French and mouton "sheep" in French, was coined in 1922 and selected by a trade association; it was adopted by the United States Department of Agriculture in 1928,: 19  however the term never caught on and is not encountered in the United States. "Cabrito", a word in Spanish and Portuguese, is the meat of a young, milk-fed goat. It is also known as chivo meat. Goat meat is both a staple and a delicacy in the world's cuisines. The cuisines best known for their use of goat include African cuisine, Middle Eastern, Indian, Indonesian, Nepali, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Abruzzese, Mexican, Caribbean (Jamaica), Haitian cuisine, Dominican cuisine and Ecuadorian. Cabrito, which is baby goat, is a very typical food of Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico; in Italy it is called "capretto". Goat meat can be prepared in a variety of ways, such as being stewed, curried, baked, grilled, barbecued, minced, canned, fried, or made into sausage. Goat jerky is also another popular variety.

Okra , Abelmoschus esculentus, known in some English-speaking countries as lady's fingers, is a flowering plant in the mallow family native to East Africa. It has edible green seed pods. Cultivated in tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate regions around the world, okra is used in the cuisines of many countries. Abelmoschus is Neo-Latin from Arabic: أَبُو المِسْك, romanized: ʾabū l-misk, lit. 'father of musk', while esculentus is Latin for being fit for human consumption.

Jollof , or jollof rice, is a rice dish from West Africa. The dish is typically made with long-grain rice, tomatoes, chilies, onions, spices, and sometimes other vegetables and/or meat in a single pot, although its ingredients and preparation methods vary across different regions. The dish's origins are traced to Senegal. Regional variations are a source of competition among the countries of West Africa, and in particular between Nigeria and Ghana, over whose version is the best; in the 2010s this developed into a friendly rivalry known as the "Jollof Wars".

Lobsters are malacostracans of the family Nephropidae or its synonym Homaridae. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs have claws, including the first pair, which are usually much larger than the others. Highly prized as seafood, lobsters are economically important and are often one of the most profitable commodities in the coastal areas they populate. Commercially important species include two species of Homarus from the northern Atlantic Ocean and scampi —the Northern Hemisphere genus Nephrops and the Southern Hemisphere genus Metanephrops.[citation needed]

Peanut stew or groundnut stew, also known as maafe , sauce d'arachide (French) or tigadèguèna is a stew that is a staple food in Western Africa. While maafe is a dish originating in Senegal, tigadéguéna originates from the Mandinka and Bambara people of Mali. The proper name for it in the Mandinka language is domodah or tigadegena (lit. 'peanut butter sauce,' where tige is 'peanut,' dege is 'paste,' and na is 'sauce') in Bamanankan. Domodah is a sauce also used by Gambians, whose name has been borrowed from the Mandinka language. In Senegal domodah or domoda refers to flour-thickened soup or stew, which is different from maafe that uses peanut paste.

Stewed black-eyed peas, may also contain meat, sweet potatoes, commonly served on bread as a breakfast sandwich

Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not all oysters, are in the superfamily Ostreoidea.

Palaver sauce or palava sauce or plasas is a type of stew widely eaten in West Africa, including Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. The word palaver comes from the Portuguese language and means a talk, lengthy debate or quarrel. It is unclear how this led to the name of the stew. One theory is that the spices used in the stew mingle together like raised voices in an argument. It has been thought of as having the power to calm tensions, or to cause them. Other names for the dish include kontonmire, kentumere, nkontommire and pla'sas. It has regional variations and can contain beef, fish, shrimp, pepitas, cassava, taro leaves, and palm oil. It is served with boiled rice, potatoes, garri, fufu or yams. Outside of Africa, spinach is often used as a substitute for other greens. The leaves used to make this soup in Liberia are called molokhia or mulukhiyah leaves. The meat is first cut into small pieces and is fried in palm oil in a pan, and to the pan is added onion, pepper and chilli. Next is added the fish, dried or smoked, previously moistened and cut in chunks. The vegetables are sliced and incorporated into the cooking pan (spinach leaves or bean leaves, cabbage, kale, okra), and finally water is poured to help in the cooking and spices for seasoning. The mixture is kept on a low fire until all the ingredients are cooked and the water has reduced. It may be served with white rice.

Chicken marinated in spicy peanut butter sauce, then grilled

Peppersoup is a soup from Nigeria, made using various meats or fishes, chili peppers, scent leaves and calabash nutmeg as the primary ingredients. It is a spicy soup that has a light, watery texture. Despite its name, the soup is not necessarily defined by a pepper-forward flavor profile, that is, the flavors are much more complex, with nutty, bitter, woodsy, and floral notes, as well as warmth. It is considered to be a delicacy by some people in Western Africa, and some West Africans believe that the soup has some basic medicinal qualities. Pepper soup is a common soup in Nigeria that is prepared using various meats, fishes, chili peppers and calabash nutmeg as its primary ingredients. Pepper soup is very spicy and goes well with a cold beer or soft drink. While it is served as an appetizer at official gatherings, pepper soup is more popular at pubs. In Nigeria, it is served at "leisure spots" as a recreational or "feel good" dish. Pepper soup cubes, a pre-mixed blend of spices used in pepper soup, are manufactured by one Nigerian company. Pepper soup is typically a watery, soup. It can be prepared with combinations of various meats, such as fish, shrimp, tripe, oxtail, chicken, game, goat, beef or cow hide. Additional ingredients can include tomatoes, onion, green onions, garlic, sweet peppers, ginger, cloves, cinnamon and lime juice. Fufu, a food prepared from boiled and then pounded cassava or other tubers, is sometimes used as an ingredient, which thickens the soup and serves to impart a creamy texture. It is sometimes served with side dishes such as rice or boiled tubers, or served atop these ingredients. On the western coast of Africa, it is typically cooked outdoors in a cauldron.

Palaver sauce or palava sauce or plasas is a type of stew widely eaten in West Africa, including Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. The word palaver comes from the Portuguese language and means a talk, lengthy debate or quarrel. It is unclear how this led to the name of the stew. One theory is that the spices used in the stew mingle together like raised voices in an argument. It has been thought of as having the power to calm tensions, or to cause them. Other names for the dish include kontonmire, kentumere, nkontommire and pla'sas. It has regional variations and can contain beef, fish, shrimp, pepitas, cassava, taro leaves, and palm oil. It is served with boiled rice, potatoes, garri, fufu or yams. Outside of Africa, spinach is often used as a substitute for other greens. The leaves used to make this soup in Liberia are called molokhia or mulukhiyah leaves. The meat is first cut into small pieces and is fried in palm oil in a pan, and to the pan is added onion, pepper and chilli. Next is added the fish, dried or smoked, previously moistened and cut in chunks. The vegetables are sliced and incorporated into the cooking pan (spinach leaves or bean leaves, cabbage, kale, okra), and finally water is poured to help in the cooking and spices for seasoning. The mixture is kept on a low fire until all the ingredients are cooked and the water has reduced. It may be served with white rice.

Stewed cassava leaves with vegetables, meat, smoked fish

Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the pig . It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved; curing extends the shelf life of pork products. Ham, gammon, bacon, and pork sausage are examples of preserved pork. Charcuterie is the branch of cooking devoted to prepared meat products, many from pork.

Prawn is a common name for small aquatic crustaceans with an exoskeleton and ten legs , some of which are edible. The term prawn is used particularly in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Commonwealth nations, for large swimming crustaceans or shrimp, especially those with commercial significance in the fishing industry. Shrimp in this category often belong to the suborder Dendrobranchiata. In North America, the term is used less frequently, typically for freshwater shrimp. The terms shrimp and prawn themselves lack scientific standing. Over the years, the way they are used has changed, and in contemporary usage, the terms are almost interchangeable. The terms shrimp and prawn are common names, not scientific names. They are vernacular or colloquial terms, which lack the formal definition of scientific terms. They are not taxa, but are terms of convenience with little circumscriptional significance. There is no reason to avoid using the terms shrimp or prawn when convenient, but it is important not to confuse them with the names or relationships of actual taxa.

Stewed pumpkin or squash, serve with rice

Stewed greens, made with cassava leaves, potato leaves, baobab leaves, may also include vegetables, meat, seafood, serve with rice

Seafood is the culinary name for food that comes from any form of sea life, prominently including fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of molluscs . The harvesting, processing, and consuming of seafoods are ancient practices with archaeological evidence dating back well into the Paleolithic. Findings in a sea cave at Pinnacle Point in South Africa indicate Homo sapiens (modern humans) harvested marine life as early as 165,000 years ago, while the Neanderthals, an extinct human species contemporary with early Homo sapiens, appear to have been eating seafood at sites along the Mediterranean coast beginning around the same time. Isotopic analysis of the skeletal remains of Tianyuan man, a 40,000-year-old anatomically modern human from eastern Asia, has shown that he regularly consumed freshwater fish. Archaeology features such as shell middens, discarded fish bones, and cave paintings show that sea foods were important for survival and consumed in significant quantities. During this period, most people lived a hunter-gatherer lifestyle and were, of necessity, constantly on the move. However, early examples of permanent settlements (though not necessarily permanently occupied), such as those at Lepenski Vir, were almost always associated with fishing as a major source of food.

Stewed cassava leaves, kale, malakwang, blackjack, goosefoot, marogo, pigweed, purslane, thistle, sweet potato leaves, malanga, pumpkin leaves, njama njama, spinach

A stew is a combination of solid food ingredients that have been cooked in liquid and served in the resultant gravy. Ingredients can include any combination of vegetables and may include meat, especially tougher meats suitable for slow-cooking, such as beef, pork, venison, rabbit, lamb, poultry, sausages, and seafood. While water can be used as the stew-cooking liquid, stock is also common. A small amount of red wine or other alcohol is sometimes added for flavour. Seasonings and flavourings may also be added. Stews are typically cooked at a relatively low temperature , allowing flavours to mingle. Stewing is suitable for the least tender cuts of meat that become tender and juicy with the slow, moist heat method. This makes it popular for low-cost cooking. Cuts with a certain amount of marbling and gelatinous connective tissue give moist, juicy stews, while lean meat may easily become dry. Stews are thickened by reduction or with flour, either by coating pieces of meat with flour before searing or by using a roux or beurre manié, a dough consisting of equal parts fat and flour. Thickeners like cornstarch, potato starch, or arrowroot may also be used.

Stewed cassava, yams, onions, tomatoes, chicken, chili peppers

Cornmeal dough cooked in uma or banana leaves

Àkàrà (English: bean cake; Hausa: kosai; Portuguese: acarajé ( Portuguese pronunciation: [akaɾaˈʒɛ] ⓘ) is a type of fritter made from cowpeas or beans (black-eyed peas) by the Yoruba people of Nigeria, Benin and Togo. It is found throughout West African, Caribbean, and Brazilian cuisines. The dish is traditionally encountered in Brazil's northeastern state of Bahia, especially in the city of Salvador. Acarajé serves as both a religious offering to the gods in the Candomblé religion and as street food. The dish was brought by enslaved Nigerian citizens from West Africa, and can still be found in various forms in Nigeria, Benin and Togo. Akara is made from peeled beans (black-eyed peas), washed and ground with pepper, and other preferred seasonings, then beaten to aerate them, and deep-fried in small balls. Brazilian acarajé is made from raw and milled cowpeas that are seasoned with salt, pepper and chopped onions molded into the shape of a large scone and deep-fried in dendê with a wok-like pan in front of the customers. It is served split in half and stuffed with vatapá and caruru – spicy pastes made from shrimp,ground cashews, palm oil and other ingredients. A vegetarian version is typically served with hot peppers and green tomatoes. Acarajé can also come in a second form called abará, where the nutritious ingredients are steamed instead of deep-fried.

Akpan, also known as akassa, is a fermented maize yogurt. A product of Togolese and Beninese cuisine, it is considered a dessert. Akpan is made by fermenting maize kernels or powder. The fermented maize is then bagged together with condensed milk and iced to create a sweet dessert. Some sources describe the dish as vegetable yogurt. The dessert is popular in Benin and Togo. In Benin, the dish is referred to as Akassa. It has a small consumer base in France.

A banana fritter is a fritter made by deep frying battered banana or plantain in hot cooking oil. It is a common dish across Southeast Asia and South India. It is commonly found in Kerala and is not served with any curry or side dishes. Banana fritters are a traditional snack in Brunei, where they are called cucur pisang. They are similar to pisang goreng in Indonesia and Malaysia. Cucur pisang madu, a variant of cucur pisang made with honey, are popular as a light afternoon meal .

Beans

Stewed beans and rice

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 commercial variety is called the California Blackeye; it is pale-colored with a prominent black spot. The American South has countless varieties, many of them heirloom, that vary in size from the small lady peas to very large ones. The color of the eye may be black, brown, red, pink, or green. All the peas are green when freshly shelled and brown or buff when dried. A popular variation of the black-eyed pea is the purple hull pea or mud-in-your-eye pea; it is usually green with a prominent purple or pink spot. The currently accepted botanical name for the black-eyed pea is Vigna unguiculata subsp. unguiculata, although previously it was classified in the genus Phaseolus. Vigna unguiculata subsp. dekindtiana is the wild relative and Vigna unguiculata subsp. sesquipedalis is the related asparagus bean. Other beans of somewhat similar appearance, such as the frijol ojo de cabra of northern Mexico, are sometimes incorrectly called black-eyed peas, and vice versa. The Black-eyed pea originates from West Africa and has been cultivated in China and India since prehistoric times. It was grown in Virginia since the 17th century by African slaves who were brought to America along with the indigenous plants from their homelands. The crop would also eventually prove popular in Texas. The planting of crops of black-eyed peas was promoted by George Washington Carver because, as a legume, it adds nitrogen to the soil and has high nutritional value. Throughout the South, the black-eyed pea is still a widely used ingredient today in soul food and cuisines of the Southern United States. The black-eye pea is cultivated throughout the world.

Boiled eggs are eggs, typically from a chicken, cooked with their shells unbroken, usually by immersion in boiling water. Hard-boiled eggs are cooked so that the egg white and egg yolk both solidify, while soft-boiled eggs may leave the yolk, and sometimes the white, at least partially liquid and raw. Boiled eggs are a popular breakfast food around the world. Besides a boiling water immersion, there are a few different methods to make boiled eggs. Eggs can also be cooked below the boiling temperature, i.e. coddling, or they can be steamed. The egg timer was named for commonly being used to time the boiling of eggs.

Manihot esculenta, commonly called cassava, manioc, or yuca , is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions as an annual crop for its edible starchy root tuber. Cassava is predominantly consumed in boiled form, but substantial quantities are processed to extract cassava starch, called tapioca, which is used for food, animal feed, and industrial purposes. The Brazilian farinha, and the related garri of West Africa, is an edible coarse flour obtained by grating cassava roots, pressing moisture off the obtained grated pulp, and finally drying it (and roasting in the case of both farinha and garri).

Thin flatbread made from bitter cassava root without leavening

Couscous is a traditional North African dish of small[a] steamed granules of rolled semolina that is often served with a stew spooned on top. Pearl millet, sorghum, bulgur, and other cereals are sometimes cooked in a similar way in other regions, and the resulting dishes are also sometimes called couscous.: 18  Couscous is a staple food throughout the Maghrebi cuisines of Algeria, Tunisia, Mauritania, Morocco, and Libya.: 250  It was integrated into French and European cuisine at the beginning of the twentieth century, through the French colonial empire and the Pieds-Noirs of Algeria.

French fries , chips (British and other national varieties), finger chips (Indian English), french-fried potatoes, or simply fries, are batonnet or allumette-cut deep-fried potatoes of disputed origin from Belgium or France. They are prepared by cutting potatoes into even strips, drying them, and frying them, usually in a deep fryer. Pre-cut, blanched, and frozen russet potatoes are widely used, and sometimes baked in a regular or convection oven; air fryers are small convection ovens marketed for frying potatoes. French fries are served hot, either soft or crispy, and are generally eaten as part of lunch or dinner or by themselves as a snack, and they commonly appear on the menus of diners, fast food restaurants, pubs, and bars. They are often salted and may be served with ketchup, vinegar, mayonnaise, tomato sauce, or other sauces. Fries can be topped more heavily, as in the dishes of poutine, loaded fries or chili cheese fries. French fries can be made from sweet potatoes instead of potatoes. A baked variant, oven fries, uses less or no oil.

Cassava chips

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 Asia and Oceania, where fried snacks are widely popular. In Indonesia it is called gorengan. It is called dodo in Yoruba in South West Nigeria, otherwise known as simply fried plantain in other parts of Nigeria. Kelewele is a fried spicy plantain or can be fried as a side dish for Red Red and fish stew in Ghana. Fried plantain is also eaten in some countries in South America or the Caribbean where African influence is present. For example, in the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, and to a lesser extent Cuba. it is common to cut plantains in slices, fry them until they are yellow, smash them between two plates and fry them again. Puerto Rico has mofongo, a dish consisting of fried and pounded plantains with chicharrón, spices, fat (butter, lard or olive oil) and usually in a broth or served with meat, seafood on top or on the side. This is also a common dish in Haiti, referred to as bannann peze, and throughout Central America, referred to as patacones in Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Ecuador, and as tostones in Nicaragua and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean. In Honduras and Venezuela they are referred to as tajadas. Puerto Rico also has arañitas (spiders), where green and yellow plantains are shredded together, seasoned shaped into patties, then fried until crisp. Other traditional fried plantain dishes in Puerto Rico include alcapurria, pionono, ralleno de amarillo (similar to papa rellena but made with yellow plantain), and bolitas de plantain (plantain dumpling). Fried plantain may be served as a snack, a starter or as a side dish to the main course, such as with Jollof rice, spicy barbecued meat, tomato stew or beans. It is made in different ways: salted or unsalted, cut into "ears", "fingers", can be diced, or fried whole.

Avocados, bananas, grapefruit, guava, lemons, mangoes, oranges, papayas, pineapples, plantains, watermelons

Okra , Abelmoschus esculentus, known in some English-speaking countries as lady's fingers, is a flowering plant in the mallow family native to East Africa. It has edible green seed pods. Cultivated in tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate regions around the world, okra is used in the cuisines of many countries. Abelmoschus is Neo-Latin from Arabic: أَبُو المِسْك, romanized: ʾabū l-misk, lit. 'father of musk', while esculentus is Latin for being fit for human consumption.

Corn cooked over a flame

Savory steamed pudding made with black-eyed peas, may include meat, fish

The peanut , also known as the groundnut, goober (US), goober pea, pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics by small and large commercial producers, both as grain legume and as an oil crop. Atypically among legumes, peanut pods develop underground leading botanist Carl Linnaeus to name peanuts hypogaea, which means "under the earth". The peanut belongs to the botanical family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), commonly known as the legume, bean, or pea family. Like most other legumes, peanuts harbor symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria in root nodules, which improve soil fertility, making them valuable in crop rotations.

Popcorn is a variety of corn kernel which expands and puffs up when heated; the same names also refer to the foodstuff produced by the expansion. A popcorn kernel's strong hull contains the seed's hard, starchy shell endosperm with 14–20% moisture, which turns to steam as the kernel is heated. Pressure from the steam continues to build until the hull ruptures, allowing the kernel to forcefully expand, to 20 to 50 times its original size, and then cool.

Rice bread is a type of bread that is made from rice flour rather than wheat flour. Being gluten free, it will not cause adverse reactions for people with gluten intolerance. The Vietnamese banh mi is traditionally made with a mixture of wheat and rice flour, or sometimes exclusively the latter, resulting in an airy, crispy texture. Sierra Leonean and Liberian rice bread is traditionally made with rice flour, mashed ripe plantains, butter, eggs, baking soda, sugar, salt, water, and grated ginger.

Stewed cassava leaves, kale, malakwang, blackjack, goosefoot, marogo, pigweed, purslane, thistle, sweet potato leaves, malanga, pumpkin leaves, njama njama, spinach