Rice is grown in many of the wet coastal areas and around the river valleys of West Africa. Ground rice, or rice flour, is used to make snacks, breads and fufu or tuwo. Northern and East Africa have long been familiar with rice due to the Asian and Indian influence on their foods. You can grind your own rice flour, buy it from a health food store or through mail order sources. This staple grain has been grown for hundreds of years in West Africa, but is hard to find in the northern hemisphere except as animal feed.
Sorghum makes a delicious porridge which the Hausa call kunu.
The British referred to sorghum as Kafir corn, and many old West African cookbooks will call for corn when they mean sorghum. It is also called guinea corn, or dawa. Return to Top of Page . The waxy tuber, also called manioc and yuca, was brought from the Americas in the 16th century. Tapioca is made from cassava.