Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Chart of African Carbohydrates/Starches



Here's the chart I mentioned that I put together to try and organize my understanding of some of the most common starches/carbohydrates I've run across. I'm sure there are many omissions and maybe some errors, so please help me to update and expand this listing.

(from "Food and Foodways (see July 18, 2007 posting)," in The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Popular Cutlure, Sub-Saharan Africa Vol. 5, p. 101-2, © Fran Osseo-Asare, 2007)

Food Name

Region

Country

Typical Ingredients

kenkey/dokono

West Africa

Ghana

fermented corn dough steamed in corn husks or banana leaves

banku

Ghana

fermented corn dough, stirred and cooked (soft)

koko/akasa

Ghana

fermented corn dough porridge (thin)

tuo zaafe

Ghana

thick sorghum or millet porridge

ogi

Nigeria

fermented porridge from sorghum, millet, and/or maize

gari (farine de manioc)

West/Central Africa

various

dried, grated, fermented cassava meal

fufu (1)

(in Nigeria, also called iyan or pounded yam)

West/Central Africa)

especially

Ghana/Nigeria,

Cameroon

peeled, boiled, pounded stiff but elastic dumpling, generally not chewed (yam, cassava, cocoyam, ripe or green plantain, single or combination)

fufu (2)

Central Africa

especially DRC, CAR, Cameroon

a stiff porridge made from white corn flour, cassava flour, or a combination (similar to ugali, sadza, pap, nsima)

lafun

West Africa

Nigeria

a fibrous, powdery form of fermented cassava similar to, but coarser than, fufu

attiéké

West Africa

Côte D’Ivoire

steamed fermented cassava granules

miondo, (myondo)

bobolo, bâton de manioc

Cameroon

(miondo is a Duala word, bobolo is Ewando)

cassava roots soaked and fermented, peeled, mashed, drained, ground, wrapped in banana leaves and boiled or steamed

chickwangue

(chicouangue)

Central

Congo, Gabon

similar to miondo

bidia

DRC, CAR

(Tshiluba) See fufu (2)

injera

(enjera)

Eastern Africa

Ethiopia/Eritrea

fermented crepe/pancake commonly made from a type of millet called tef (teff), but also with sorghum or wheat

canjeero

Somalia

see injera

obusera

Uganda

fermented millet porridge

uji

Kenya, Tanzania

Swahili word for porridge, thin to thick, made from maize, millet,and/or sorghum

ugali

Various, esp. Kenya, Tanzania

Swahili word for a thick porridge (or dumpling) commonly made from cornmeal, but also made with cassava flour

posho

Uganda

see ugali

atapa (atap)

Uganda

ground dried sweet potato porridge, with ground millet/cassava and flavorings

pap

Southern Africa

South Africa

Dutch word for porridge made from cornmeal flour or other staple grain

bogobe

Botswana

see pap

sadza

Zimbabwe

stiff porridge (or dumpling) made from white field corn flour or red millet flour

nsima/nhsima

Zambia, Malawi

see pap

xima

Mozambique

corn pap (see pap)

amarhewu

South Africa

thin porridge made from slightly fermented cornmeal

putu/phutu

South Africa

(Zulu) a crumbly version of pap (see pap)

umphokoqo

South Africa

(Xhosa) a crumbly version of pap (see pap)

2 Comments:

At 4:56 PM, Blogger Ayodeji Odusote said...

Fufu is not the same as Iyan. They are entirely different...

 
At 5:28 PM, Blogger Fran said...

I agree that the 2 are different. However, they are both prepared from boiled, pounded yam. In Ghana the yam would be quite elastic, whereas the pounded yam I've had is much softer. In what other way do you think they are different (I'm thinking of the yam fufu pounded in the North of Ghana--there are also many different kinds of "fufu.")?

 

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