Food and Drink

The cuisine of Senegal is similar to other cuisines found in West Africa, but at the same time has its own unique dishes. Popular Senegalese food and drinks include:

Drinks

The traditional drink is mint tea; the Casamance drink, however, is palm wine.

Appetizers

• Fried plantains
• Black-eyed pea fritters
• Pastels, a fried, stuffed pastry adopted from Portuguese cuisine

Main Meals

• Bassi-salté (seasoned meat cooked with tomato paste and vegetables over a local couscous called cere)
• Capitaine à la Saint-Louisienne (perch stuffed with spices)
• Ceebu jen or thiéboudienne (flavoursome marinated fish cooked with tomato paste and a variety of vegetables, the national dish of Senegal)
• Chicken au yassa (chicken with lemon, garlic, pimento and onions)
• Dem a la St Louis (stuffed mullet)
• Dibi (simmered, grilled lamb)
• Fondé (rolled millet-balls in sour cream)
• Maafe (seasoned chicken, lamb, or beef cooked with vegetables in a peanut butter sauce)
• Poisson à la braise (grilled fish flavored with lemon, garlic, and black pepper)
• Sombi (sweet milk-ricesoup
• Tiebou dienne (rice and fish)
• Suckling pig (especially in the Casamance region)

Desserts

• Banana Glace (a sophisticated banana dessert concocted by Mamadou, owner of Les Cannibales Deux Restaurant in Dakar)
• Cinq Centimes, the Five-Cent Cookie (a peanut cookie popular in marketplaces)
• Dege (a rice pudding made from couscous)

More information about the cuisine in Senegal may be found in Senegalese Culture.