A FOOD TRADITION
Azande cuisine
Azande foodways belong to a wider cultural region spanning southeastern Central African Republic, northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and western South Sudan. Farming traditionally supplies cassava, sorghum, maize, groundnuts, sesame, beans, bananas and leafy vegetables, supplemented by fish, small game and other locally available animal foods. Staples may be boiled, pounded or fermented, while sauces are built from greens, peanuts, sesame or dried fish. Smoking and roasting are important in areas where preservation is needed. Foods encountered in the wider Azande and neighboring culinary zone include cassava or sorghum fufu, leafy-green stews, groundnut sauces and grilled or smoked fish. Regional circulation makes exclusive attribution inappropriate.
Dishes linked to this cuisine
1–5 of 5
Gadia Tikpo
An older Zande method of preparing cassava leaves with homemade bicarbonate, distinguished from steamed huhu gadia and the more common cooked pasipasi form.
Huhu Gadia
A baked or steamed Zande cassava-leaf preparation mixed with peanut butter and wrapped tightly in banana leaves before cooking.
Tamiya Bafura
A Zande fried cassava snack shaped into short cylinders and seasoned with spring onion and chilli.
Zande Bakinde
A firm Zande porridge or dough traditionally made with finger millet, with contemporary forms mixing millet or maize flour with cassava flour or using cassava flour alone.
Zande Gadia
A popular Zande cassava-leaf dish simmered with aromatics, palm oil, greens and peanut butter; this cooked form is also described as pasipasi gadia.
Catalogue preview Cuisine connections may be unreviewed. Regional comparisons include their food references and do not establish the ingredients of a particular meal.