r from which manioc flour and tapioca is made. Slightly fermented and ground into flour, manioc is used to prepare the classic Gari served with vegetable and/or meat sauces.
Chapatis: unleavened breads freshly made for a meal from almost any flour: rolled flat then deep-fried until they puff and brown. Well known in India and much favored by African Indians.
Chenga: a thick milk soup made with rice or corn and thickened with corn flour (cornstarch). Considered one of the chief foods of East Africa.
Chin Chin: deep-fried cookie leavened with Swahili yeast.
Cocoyams: variety of wild yams.
Dende Oil: the Brazilian name for the densely rich palm oil brought to Brazil by West Africans. Its red-dish hue can be imitated by adding paprika to peanut or vegetable oil.
Dovi: paste of groundnuts (peanut butter). Duri: mortar and pestle.
Fufu, Ugali or Ampesi: staple African food. Thick porridge-like mixture made by pounding then cooking any one of many starchy plant foods or mixtures of them. Corn, millet, rice, cassava, plantain, green bananas, or varieties of yams may be used. For eating, the mixture is formed into small halls with three fingers of the right hand then dipped into sauces or relishes made from fish, meat, or vegetables – almost always spicy hot.
Futari Yams: thick mixture of cooked potatoes flavored with groundnuts, tomatoes, onions.
Garri or Gari: a slightly fermented cassava flour used in cooking. A favorite of many, especially Ghanians.
Ghada: the midday meal, usually consisting of Fufu and relishes.
Groundnuts: peanuts, a staple food.
Gumbo: with a consistency between a soup and a stew, gumbo is derived from the African Bantu word for okra. Simmered gently with spicy seasoning, okra, and other vegetables, gumbos take their name from the main seafood or meat ingredient and are usually served over wild rice. In America, gumbos are a treasured part of Creole cuisine.
Hova or Hobo: bananas.
Imba: name given to main hut or house where cooking and eating take place.
lninga: sesame seeds, when eaten cooked as a relish.
lnjera: classic Ethiopian bread prepared like a huge pancake from Teff (fine millet flour). Then pancakes are placed, overlapping on a small table or large serving tray – at once becoming tablecloth, dish (for a stew of meat and/or vegetables) and then torn to scoop up the food.
Trio: Swahili word for a combination of cooked vegetables, cubed or chopped and seasoned with oil and salt and pepper. Favorite in East Africa.
Ji Akwukwo: very thick stew of many vegetables plus yams. Favorite in West Africa.
Keuke: corn bread prepared from wet fermented corn flour. Sour in East Africa, sweeter and whiter in West Africa.
Kikwanga: Congo name for disc-shaped bread made from cassava flour. The same bread in Jamaica is called Bammy and in the southern United States pan bread.
Kuli-Kuli: delicacy made from frying the residual groundnut paste after the oil has been extracted.
Madafu: immature coconut water, a beverage.
Maheu: traditional drink for women and children; slightly alcoholic sweet liquid left from soaking cooked Fufu.
Mahshi: almost any available variety of vegetable stuffed with a mix of ground meat or fish and rice and baked with tomato sauce.
Manhanga: term used to refer to many varieties of squash and pumpkin.
Manioc or Cassava: general name given to any starch roots from which tapioca and other flours may be made.
Manwiwa: watermelon. Mealie: corn. Milioku: soup.
Milioku Ngozi: also called Blessing Soup. A hot West African soup usually made with a whole chick-en and yams. Soup is served first, then meat and vegetables sliced and served afterward. Usually served at planting and harvest celebrations.
Millet: the small grains of a cereal grass, used in preparation of some foods.
Mseto: Swahili word for rice or lentils; usually cooked into a thick sauce, highly seasoned and served with meat or fish.
Mudumbe: the succulent root fibers from the elephant ear plant.
Munyu: salt. Mupunga: rice.
Muriwo: relish or sauces accompanying Fufu. These are an important part of the diet’s nutrients, containing not only 