Senegal
The home of teranga and thieboudienne: fish and rice from one great platter, and mint tea in three glasses.
Senegal gave the region its greatest dish. Thieboudienne — ceebu jën, 'fish and rice' — is broken rice cooked with fish, tomato, tamarind and vegetables until it's deep and savoury, and it's so central to the culture that UNESCO now lists it as heritage. It comes on one vast communal platter, everyone eating from their own wedge of it, in the spirit of teranga, Senegalese hospitality.
Beyond it are yassa, chicken or fish in a sharp onion-and-lemon sauce, and mafé, a rich peanut stew, both over rice. And there is tea: ataya, green tea brewed strong and poured in three glasses across an hour, each sweeter than the last. Drink bissap hibiscus, creamy bouye baobab, or clove-spiced Café Touba. Warm, communal, and quietly proud of feeding you well.
- Thieboudienne (national fish-and-rice dish)
- Yassa (onion-lemon chicken over rice)
- Mafé (peanut-butter meat stew)
- Dibi (grilled seasoned lamb)
- Pastels (fried fish pastries)
- Café Touba (clove-spiced coffee)
- Ataya (three-glass mint tea)
