The secrets of Ivoirian gastronomy

What would Ivory Coast be without its gastronomy? From the meat of the bush to the most popular alcohols, we tell you everything about the local flavors!

The famous Agouti

Among the bush meats, i.e. all small and large edible game killed by hunting or poaching, the most popular in Ivory Coast is the Agouti, (a kind of rodent the size of a large hare, close to the coypu, and sometimes also called bush rat). Generally cooked in sauce or stew, it is highly prized for the flavor of its flesh, close to that of rabbit, and is one of the favorite dishes of Ivorians.

Alloco, the national sweet

Alloco is a bit like our French fries - or rather, the Ivorian equivalent of what French fries are to the Belgians!
It is a dish made of slices of plantain bananas fried in palm oil and usually served with a tomato and onion based sauce. Along with attiéké, it is one of the most popular side dishes in Côte d'Ivoire.
By extension, an allocodrôme refers to a place where alloco is consumed exclusively. In practice, however, it is more of a gathering place where people come to relax and/or chat while drinking beer or sweets, and where it is quite possible to consume other things than alloco.
In the same vein as alloco, klaklos, small plantain dumplings crushed with wheat and rice flour that are also served with a tomato and onion sauce. A pure delight!

 Bandji Or Bangui, the ivorian  alcohol

 Bangui is a Palm wine, slightly acrid and sweet. It is made directly from the sap of the palm-raphia, roasted palm  or oil palm, which is then left to ferment for varying lengths of time. It is a popular drink par excellence, more  in villages than cities, an end-of-day drink that is savored under the apatam (paillote) , and often used to fortify  newborns. It is also a drink of conviviality and communion with which one honors the ancestors by a libation (in  the villages, the practice is that before drinking, one spreads a few drops of the beverage on the ground as an  offering), or the guest of passage that one gets to know.

  Foofoo, or Fufu, the national dish

Foofoo, or Fufu is made from cassava, which is also known as yuca. It is a starchy root vegetable, similar to sweet potatoes, russet potatoes, and yams. It can be fried, baked, and prepared just like potatoes; however, it becomes very smooth, doughy, and elastic when made into fufu.Though traditionally made from cassava, fufu's definition has expanded over the years to include a variety of swallow foods, such as eba, green plantains, amala, cocoyam, corn, pounded yam, semolina, and much more.

For an easy to prepare Fufu recipe: https://www.afsf.com/blog/bcook/recipe-the-ivorian-fufu/ 

Info and pictures : https://www.chefspencil.com/top-24-foods-from-ivory-coast/