Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's West Africa recipes. This page provides links to all the West Africa recipes presented on this site, with 1129 recipes in total.

Here each country in West Africa is listed with a collection of recipes from that country. Only a brief description of the country is given here. For a more detailed overview please use the links below to navigate to the full listing page for that country. Also, please note that only a maximum of 50 recipes is given for each country in the list given on this page. For the full recipes listing you need to navigate to the country's main page. However, this page also gives recipes that are common to all countries in West Africa, which are not found elsewhere on this site.

These recipes, for the major part, originate in West Africa. Otherwise they are fusion recipes with major West African influences.

West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo, as well as Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha (United Kingdom Overseas Territory).[8][9] The population of West Africa is estimated at 419 million people as of 2021, and at 381,981,000 as of 2017, of which 189,672,000 were female and 192,309,000 male.[3] The region is demographically[10] and economically[11] one of the fastest growing on the African continent.

Early history in West Africa included a number of prominent regional powers that dominated different parts of both the coastal and internal trade networks, such as the Mali and Gao Empires. West Africa sat at the intersection of trade routes between Arab-dominated North Africa and further south on the continent, the source of specialized goods such as gold, advanced iron-working, and ivory. After European exploration encountered rich local economies and kingdoms, the Atlantic slave trade built on already existing slave systems to provide labor for colonies in the Americas. After the end of the slave trade in the early 19th century, European nations, especially France and Britain, continued to exploit the region through colonial relationships. For example, they continued exporting a number of extractive goods, including labor-intensive agricultural crops like cocoa and coffee, forestry products like tropical timber, and mineral resources like gold. Since independence, many West African countries, like Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal, have played important roles in the regional and global economies.

West Africa has a rich ecology, with strong biodiversity and several distinct regions. The area's climate and ecology are heavily influenced by the dry Sahara to the north and east, which provides dry winds during the Harmattan, as well as the Atlantic Ocean to the south and west, which provides seasonal monsoons. This mixture of climates gives West Africa a rich array of biomes, from biodiversity-rich tropical forests to drylands supporting rare and endangered fauna such as pangolins, rhinoceros, and elephants. Because of the pressure for economic development, many of these ecologies are threatened by processes like deforestation, biodiversity loss, overfishing, pollution from mining, plastics and other industries, and extreme changes resulting from climate change in West Africa.

The history of West Africa can be divided into five major periods: first, its prehistory, in which the first human settlers arrived, developed agriculture, and made contact with peoples to the north; the second, the Iron Age empires that consolidated both intra-Africa, and extra-Africa trade, and developed centralized states; third, major polities flourished, which would undergo an extensive history of contact with non-Africans; fourth, the colonial period, in which Great Britain and France controlled nearly the entire region; and fifth, the post-independence era, in which the current nations were formed.

The Cuisines of West Africa

Scores of foreign visitors to West African nations (e.g., traders, historians, emigrants, colonists, missionaries) have benefited from its citizens' generosity, and even left with a piece of its cultural heritage, via its foods. West African cuisines have had a significant influence on those of Western civilization for centuries; several dishes of West African origin are currently enjoyed in the Caribbean (e.g., the West Indies and Haiti); Australia; the USA (particularly Louisiana, Virginia, North and South Carolina); Italy; and other countries. Although some of these recipes have been altered to suit the sensibilities of their adopters, they retain a distinct West African essence.

West Africans cuisines include fish (especially among the coastal areas), meat, vegetables, and fruits—most of which are grown by the nations' local farmers. In spite of the obvious differences among the various local cuisines in this multinational region, the foods display more similarities than differences. The small difference may be in the ingredients used. Most foods are cooked via boiling or frying. Commonly featured, starchy vegetables include yams, plantains, cassava, and sweet potatoes.[106] Rice is also a staple food, as is the Serer people's sorghum couscous (called 'Chereh' in Serer) particularly in Senegal and the Gambia.[107] Jollof rice—originally from the Kingdom of Jolof (now part of modern-day Senegal) but has spread to the Wolofs of Gambia—is also enjoyed in many Western nations, as well;[108] Mafé (proper: 'Tigh-dege-na' or Domodah) from Mali (via the Bambara and Mandinka)—a peanut-butter stew served with rice; Akara (fried bean balls seasoned with spices served with sauce and bread) from Nigeria is a favorite breakfast for Gambians and Senegalese, as well as a favorite side snack or side dish in Brazil and the Caribbean just as it is in West Africa. It is said that its exact origin may be from Yorubaland in Nigeria. Fufu (from the Twi language, a dough served with a spicy stew or sauce for example okra stew etc.) from Ghana is enjoyed throughout the region and beyond even in Central Africa with their own versions of it.[114] Dishes such as taguella, eghajira, etc. are popular among the Tuareg people.

West Africa, as defined by the United Nations scheme of African regions is divided into 16 states and the United Kingdom Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha these are listed and defined below (it should be noted that due to Mauritania's increasingly close ties to the Arab World and its 1999 withdrawal from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), in modern times it is often considered, especially in Africa, as being part of western North Africa):

West Africa

Arms	Flag	Name of Territory	Capital	Name in Official Language(s)
		Benin	Porto-Novo	Bénin
		Burkina Faso	Ouagadougou	Burkina Faso
		Cape Verde	Praia	Cabo Verde/Kabu Verdi
		The Gambia	Banjul	The Gambia
		Ghana	Accra	Ghana
		Guinea	Conakry	Guinée
		Guinea-Bissau	Bissau	Guiné-Bissau
		Ivory Coast	Abidjan, Yamoussoukro	Côte d'Ivoire
		Liberia	Monrovia	Liberia
		Mali	Bamoko	Mali/Maali/مالي (Mālī)/𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Maali)/ ߡߊߟߌ (Mali)
		Mauritania	Nouakchott	موريتانيا (Mūrītānyā)
		Niger	Niamey	Niger
		Nigeria	Abuja	Nigeria
		Saint Helena (United Kingdom)	Jamestown	Saint Helena
		Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha (United Kingdom)	Jamestown	Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
		Senegal	Dakar	Sénégal
		Sierra Leone	Freetown	Sierra Leone
		Togo	Lomé	Togo