Before we look into the diverse culinary traditions of the different regions in Africa, it is important to look at the ingre­dients used in traditional cooking.

Local ingredients

The basic ingredients include staple foods such as cereals and grains, starchy vegetables like roots and tubers, leafy greens and other vegeta­bles and fruit, legumes (beans), pro­teins, palm oil, spices and aromatics.

Carbohydrates include cereals and grains, and maize and rice, as well as indigenous millet and sorghum, teff and fonio. The latter is a gluten-free, vegan and nutrient-dense whole grain from West-Africa.

Starchy vegetables include yams, cassava, plantains, and sweet pota­toes, that provide carbohydrates for energy, as well as nutrients. These vegetables usually accompany protein, bean or nut stews and sauces.

Leafy greens, such as amaranth, and other vegetables used in stews, soups and side dishes, provide vitamins and minerals. Proteins include meat, fish, poultry, and legumes (beans) that provide es­sential nutrients, and are often cooked with aromatic spices.

Spices and aromatic ingredients, like sweet peppers and chilies, as well as aromatic herbs like garlic, ginger and onions, en­hance flavours and add to the complexity of dishes.

Over time, different spice blends developed that are characteristic of different regions, like the berbere spice blend of Ethiopia and Eritrea, the suya spice of West Afri­can cuisine, and the Ras el hanout of North Africa.

Palm oil, also referred to as red oil, is widely used for frying, sautéing, and flavouring of dishes. It is an edible vegetable oil that comes from the fruit of oil palm trees (Elaeis guineensis). Two types of oil can be obtained: crude palm oil made by squeez­ing the fleshy fruit, and palm kernel oil, which is made by crush­ing the kernel or the stone in the middle of the fruit.

Oil palm trees are native to Africa but were taken to South-East Asia more than a century ago as an or­namental tree. Today, Indonesia and Malaysia produce more than 85% of the global supply, but the palm tree is still planted and used in Africa.

Five distinct regions

Although there are more than 50 countries in Africa, African cuisine can be divided into five distinct regions, namely Northern, Southern, Central, Eastern, and Western Africa. Food tra­ditions in these five regions are linked to geography, tradition, and culture.

North Africa

North Africa lies along the Mediterra­nean Sea and includes Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, and Sudan.

The roots of North African cuisine can be traced back to the ancient em­pires of North Africa, and particularly in Egypt, where many of the country’s dishes and culinary traditions date back to African antiquity.

Over several centuries, invaders, traders and travellers, migrants and immigrants brought their food cultures from all over the world to influence the cuisine of North Africa.

The Phoenicians from the ancient First Century Phoenicia were mer­chants, traders and colonisers. They hailed from independent city states such as Tyre and Sidon along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, from where they brought with them sausages.

Lebanese sausage is an example of this culinary tradition. It is typically made from a blend of ground beef, lamb, or a combination. The meat is seasoned with lots of spices, including cumin, co­riander, allspice, and cinnamon, giving it a distinctive and aromatic flavour profile. The mixture is then stuffed into natural casings, such as lamb or beef intestines, and hung to dry for several days. This sausage is commonly used in stews, soups, and rice dishes.

The Carthaginians came from Carthage, which developed from a Phoenician colony into the Punic empire that dominated large parts of the Southwest Mediterranean. They introduced semolina, coarsely ground durum wheat, to Northern Africa.

The Berbers, the descendants of the pre-Arab inhabitants of North Africa, live in scattered communities across the region. They adapted semolina into couscous, which is still one of the main staple foods in North Africa. And even before Carthage fell to the Romans, olives and olive oil had already been introduced to the region.

From the 7th century onwards, the Arabs introduced a variety of spices, like saffron, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves, which contributed to and influenced the culinary culture of North Africa. The word, Arab, refers to mem­bers of the Arabic-speaking peoples native to the Middle East and North Africa. Traditionally, some Arabs were desert-dwelling pastoral nomads, called Bedouin, while others lived at oases in small, isolated farming villages.

The Ottoman Turks brought sweet pastries, such as baklava, a dessert pastry made from layers of filo dough filled with chopped nuts and soaked in honey or sugar syrup.

North and South America are collec­tively regarded as The New World, in relation to Europe, especially after the early voyages of European explorers.

New World crops include beans, maize, squash, avocado, tomato, bell and chili peppers, casava, potato, sweet potato, peanut, and quinoa, as well as cashew, cocoa, sunflower and vanilla, fruits like guava, papaya and pineapple, and crops like rubber and tobacco.

In North African countries, seafood, goat, lamb, beef, dates, olives, al­monds, as well as a variety of fruits and vegetables are the most important in­gredients in food dishes. The dishes are often accompanied by couscous. While couscous looks more similar to rice or a grain, couscous is actually a type of pasta made from semolina, which con­sists of crushed durum wheat.

Couscous is commonly used in North African and Middle Eastern cuisines; it has gained popularity worldwide as a versatile and easy-to-prepare grain with a light and fluffy texture and mild, nutty flavour. It pairs well with a variety of ingredients and can be easily seasoned or customised to suit differ­ent tastes and preferences.

North Africa has a very large Muslim community, and this has had a distinct influence on the cuisine of the region. For instance, pork does not form such an important part of the diet as it does in the rest of African cuisine.

While many of the Northern Afri­can countries have dishes that share names, like tagine, these dishes often differ. In Morocco, the tagine is a slow-cooked stew, while the food that shares this name can be found in Tunisia as something that is more like a frittata, a vegetable dish with eggs, or a quiche, which is basically the same, but usually made with a crust.

The spices used in the different North African countries are similar, featuring cumin, ginger, paprika, cinnamon, pep­permint, parsley, coriander and saffron. Turmeric, dried chilli, dried mint, and sesame seeds are also popular.

Ras el hanout contains allspice, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, cumin, ginger, nutmeg and turmeric, but may also include anise, cardamom, cayenne pepper (or other chillies), fennel, fenugreek, mace, and paprika. (Source: https://www.anediblemosaic.com/ras-el-hanout-moroccan-spice-mix/)

Source references

Akinola, R., Pereira, L.M., Mab­haudhi, T., De Bruin, F., Rusch, L. (2020). A Review of Indigenous Food Crops in Africa and the Implications for more Sustainable and Healthy Food Systems MDPI. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12083493

https://www.mdpi.com/2071- 1050/12/8/3493

Chen, E. (2023) Lebanese Sau­sage: Unravelling the delicious secrets of this traditional delight. Cookindocs. https://cookindocs.com/lebanese-sausage/

Clarke, E. (2024) Couscous recipe. Well plated by Erin. https://www.wellplated.com/cous­cous-recipe/

Eight things to know about palm oil (n.d.) WWF. https://www.wwf.org.uk/updates/8-things-know-about-palm-oil

Killebrew, K. (2013) Berbere (Ethiopian Spice Blend). Daring Gourmet. https://www.daringgourmet.com/berbere-ethiopian-spice-blend/

New World (n.d.) Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World

Ottoman Cuisine (n.d.) Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto­man_cuisine

Sarah (2018) Ras El Hanout.Curi­ous Cuisiniere. https://www.curiouscuisiniere.com/ras-el-hanout/

Uguru, C. (2019) Homemade Suya Spice. My diaspora kitchen. https://www.mydiasporakitchen.com/homemade-suya-spice-yaji-spice-two-ways/

Van der Walt, J (2024) Authentic African cuisine and recipes. https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#search/jurie+van+der+walt+african+food/KtbxLxgRRmmWjkPZLqWhcTLWlrksfJTwvq?projector=1&messagePartId=0.1

Palm oil is produced by squeezing the juice out of palm oil nuts, or by extracting the oil from the kernels. (Source: James Morgan / WWF-In­ternational https://www.wwf.org.uk/updates/8-things-know-about-palm-oil)

Suya spice contains roasted peanuts/groundnuts, smoked paprika, ground ginger, garlic powder, onion powder, ground cayenne pepper and chicken bouillon powder. (Source: https://www.mydiasporakitchen.com/homemade-suya-spice-yaji-spice-two-ways/)