Food & 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.