A FOOD TRADITION

Yoruba cuisine in Benin

Yoruba cuisine in Benin is concentrated mainly in the southeast and is part of a broader Yoruba food culture extending across the Benin-Nigeria border. Staples include yams, cassava, maize, beans, plantains, peppers, leafy vegetables, palm oil, and fish or meat. Cooking commonly involves boiling, pounding, frying, fermenting, and making dense starches served with vegetable, seed, or pepper sauces. Examples associated with this tradition include pounded yam with egusi-style soup, bean-based akara, and gari or other cassava preparations served with richly seasoned sauces. Local practice varies, so the tradition should not be treated as exclusively Nigerian or exclusively Beninese.

Catalogue preview Cuisine connections may be unreviewed. Regional comparisons include their food references and do not establish the ingredients of a particular meal.