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Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, and Burkina Faso.

History
Centuries before the influence of Europeans, West African people were trading with the Arab world. Items like rice and cinnamon were introduced, and became part of the local culinary traditions.

Centuries later, the Portuguese, French and British influenced the regional cuisines, but only to a limited extent. However, as far as is known, it was European explorers and slaves ships who brought chili peppers and tomatoes from the New World, and both have become ubiquitous components of West African cuisines, along with peanuts, corn, cassava, and plantains. In turn, these slave ships carried African ingredients to the New World, including black-eyed peas and okra. Around the time of the colonial period, particularly during the Scramble for Africa, The European settlers defined colonial borders without regard to pre-existing borders, territories or cultural differences of tribal cultures. This bisected tribes and created colonies with varying culinary styles. As a result, it's difficult to sharply define, for example, Senegalese cuisine.

The local cuisine and recipes of West Africa is highly influenced by local customs and traditions. Although the Portuguese, French, British and other European colonists brought many new ingredients to the African continent, they had relatively little impact on the way people cook in West Africa. Its strong culinary tradition lives on despite the influence of colonization and food migration that occurred long ago. .

[Source: Wikipedia ]

West African Recipes

West African groundnut stew

Jollof Rice

Benne Cakes

Benin

Ago Glain - crabs cooked in a tomato and onion sauce

Akassa - classic staple of a thick cornmeal porridge or pap,

Akkra Funfun - classic vegetarian dish

Beninese Beef Stew

Beninese Bouille

Calalu - classic stew of meat and greens in a tomato

Dahomey Fish Stew

Ingame

Mouton aux Arachides (Lamb in Peanut Sauce)

Flan au citron

More Beninese Food Recipes

Cameroon

Banana Bread

Zom (Spinach with meat)

Curry of Beef - Cameroon

FOLON à la Georges

Beef with Pineapple and Coconut

N’Dole (Steak and Collard greens)

Corn Fufu

Cameroon Chicken recipe

Small Fish Pies

Atagwah (Peanut Rolls)

More Cameroonian Recipes

Côte d'Ivoire

Chilled Avocado Soup from the Ivory Coast

Halibut Ivory Coast

Cucumber zucchini Salad

Sauce Claire And Fufu

Aloko
a side dish from Cote d'Ivoire containing plantaine bananas at iAgora.

More recipes from Ivory Coast

Ghana

Ghana Jollof Rice

Ashanti Chicken

Avocado with smoked fish

Fresh Fish Stew

Plain Soup

Ghanaian Groundnut Soup

Kele Wele - served as a dessert

More recipes from Ghana

and here

Nigerian

A selection of 40 receipes from Nigeria

Nigerian Pepper Soup

Suya - chicken, beef, shrimp or veal

Akara Pancakes
A popular savoury Nigerian dish made with black-eyed beans

More Nigerian recipes

Senegal

How a Dinner is Served in Senegal

Senegalese Lemon Soup

Tiébou Dienn - cheb-oo-jen - sometimes called the national dish of Sénégal.

Basque Chicken Yassa - A delicious West African lemon-vinegar chicken dish

Senegal Seafood Stew

Ngalax - a delightful dessert

More recipes from Senegal

Recommended Book
	"My Cooking" West African Cookbook (amazon.com) - USA    (amazon.co.uk) - UK by Dokpe L. Ogunsanya comprehensive information about the preparation and cooking of some very popular West-African dishes. This cookbook is easy to read and understand. It is generally recommended to anyone interested in West-African food. Mandatory for visitors to this region of Africa."