The Gambia hosts some delicious homemade bread varieties. The more common varieties are the Sen fur bread, long bread like the french baguette. Sen fur is a shorter thicker and softer than the French style bread. The other variety is the Taapalaapa, which is different. It is heavy and dense with the taste of soft pretzel.
There is also a variety of bread that is baked in hot sand.
Sandwiches are made from these breads and sold at various kiosks. The filling for the sandwich consists of mayonnaise, fried onions, chicken/beef or shrimp. Use of mayonnaise is extensive in The Gambia.
The beach In the Gambia has a variety of vendors. They sell plates of tropical fruits all sliced and ready to eat. The fruits include bananas, papaya, coconut and mangoes during the season. Various kiosks also sell fresh fruit juices. The beach is also dotted with hotels and restaurants that offer a variety of foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner. some of the hotels have massage parlors and beauty salons.
The main meal for the Gambians is lunch.
Gambian cuisine is part West African Cuisine and includes the culinary practices and traditions of the nation of Gambia. All the ingredients are available in the local market.
Common ingredients used in day to day include rice, peanuts, tomato, bitter tomato,bell pepper, black-eyed beans, lemon, Cassava, cabbage, salt, pepper, onion, chili, and various herbs. Peanuts are grown and used extensively in The Gambian cooking. Ground peanut paste is sold extensively in the market and bought in kilos. So also is mayonnaise bought in kilos. This goes to show the extent of use of peanut paste and mayonnaise on day to day basis. Fish, meat, chicken, prawns invariably form part of the meal. Oysters are also a popular food from the River Gambia, and are harvested and sold by the women on the road side.
Gambian Dishes
- Benachin is a Wolof dish traditionally cooked in one pot (the practice giving it its name) Various ingredients including fish or meat are added, seasoned with herbs, lemon juice, basil, aubergine, parsley, onion, chili, tomato, pumpkin, carrot, cabbage, vegetable oil, and water, with tomato paste sometimes added for color.
- Nyombeh Nyebbeh, a cassava and bean dish made with oils, onion, chili, soup stock, salt, pepper water and fried snapper ( a type of fish)
- Pepeh Soup, a spicy fish stew and cow leg or foot stew
- Damoda, a Mandinka dish made with concentrated peanut paste, meat or fish seasoned with salt, small medium onion, fresh tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, medium cabbage, water, tomato paste, lemon juice, soup stock, and white rice. Domo means eating and Dait the word for a stew pot.
- Yassa is a lemon whole chicken or fish dish made with salt, pepper, onion, clove, garlic, mustard, chili sauce, lime juice, rice and water (if making it with chicken)
- Caldo (fish dish) is a lemon flavored steamed whole fish dish, a variation of Yassa.Mbahal a smoked and salted fish dish prepared with groundnuts,or black-eyed beans, spring onion, fresh chilies, white rice, and bitter tomato.
- Oyster Stew, a stew made with oysters.
- Jollof Rice also known as 'Benachin' in the Wollof language , it is made with rice, onion, tomato and red pepper and seasoned with ingredients such as nutmeg, ginger, Scotch Bonnet (pepper), cumin and chilli peppers. It can include meat, fish and vegetables
- Maafe (peanut stew)
- Thiakry a sweet dish made from couscous (wheat or millet), milk (or sweetened condensed milk or yogurt), and spices.
Palm wine is an alcoholic beverage created from the fermented sap of various palm trees. It can be collected (or tapped) from the oil palm tree Elaies guineensis or from the Raffia tree Raphia sp. which is shorter and thus more accessible.
Fermentation begins immediately after collection as a result of natural yeasts in the air and wine; within two hours, the alcohol content reaches approximately 4%. At this stage, the product is a sweet, white, mildly intoxicating aromatic beverage. Continued fermentation for up to 24 hours results in a more alcoholic, acidic, and sour white drink. This palm wine can also be distilled into whisky-like drinks with higher alcohol content (up to 40%). Beyond a certain threshold, the wine no longer gains alcohol content and further fermentation produces vinegar.
Palm wine is consumed by more than 10 million people in West Africa, and in lower frequencies in Asia, South America, the Middle East and North Africa. Due to its near-global popularity, palm wine is known by a variety of names in different countries including “Matango,” “Fitchuk,” and “Mbu” in Cameroon, “Doka”in Ghana, “Toddy” in India, “Emu” in Nigeria, “Lambanog” in the Phillipines, and “Panam culloo” in China, just to name a few.
