page_title: List of African cuisines
section_title: Central African cuisine
hierarchical_section_title: List of African cuisines / Central African cuisine
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Saka-madesu (Tshakamadesu) - A made in which beans, cassava leaves. and fish are the main ingredients
context_page_description: This is a list of African cuisines. A cuisine is a characteristic style of cooking practices and traditions, often associated with a specific culture. The various cuisines of Africa use a combination of locally available fruits, cereal grains and vegetables, as well as milk and meat products. In some parts of the continent, the traditional diet features a preponderance of milk, curd and whey products. The continent's diverse demographic makeup is reflected in the many different eating and drinking habits, dishes, and preparation techniques of its manifold populations.
context_section_description: Central Africa stretches from the Tibesti Mountains in the north to the vast rainforest basin of the Congo River, the highlands of Kivu and the savana of Katanga. This region has received culinary influence of the Swahilis (Culture that evolved via the combination of Bantu, Yemeni, Omani and Indian cultures) during the East African Slave Trade. Swahili culinary influences can be found in dishes such as: mandanzi, pilaf rice, kachumbari, sambsusa, kuku paka, etc. Central African cuisine has also been influenced by the Portuguese, by way of the Kongo and Ndongo Kingdoms. Salt fish was introduced following trade in the late XVIIth and the Kikongo term for salt fish, makayabu, comes from the term bacalhau (ba-cal-ha-u). The Portuguese culinary influence is especially prominent in Angola, Sao Tomé and Equatorial Guinea. Central Africa has also been influenced by the cuisine of the regions East, West and Southern Africa because of their close proximity. I.e: Babuté/Bobotie is shared with the south, nyama choma with the east and gombos with West Africa.
  The main ingredients are plantains, cassava, rice, kwanga (cassava dumpling) and yam. Fufu-like starchy foods are usually made from fermented cassava roots, but they can also be made with plantain, corn maize and yam. Fufu is served buffet style with grilled meat, fish, stews, greens and piment . A variety of local ingredients are used while preparing other dishes like spinach stew cooked with tomato, peppers, chillis, onions, and peanut butter. Eastern central Africa is also one of the few regions in Africa that uses potatoes as one of its main bases, since potatoes grow easily in the region.
  Cassava plants are also consumed as cooked greens. Groundnut (peanut) stew is also prepared, containing chicken, okra, ginger, and other spices. Another favorite is bambara, a porridge of rice, peanut butter and sugar. Beef and chicken are favorite meat dishes, but game meat preparations containing crocodile, elephant, antelope and warthog are also served occasionally. Bambra is a porridge made from cooked rice, peanut butter and sugar. A jomba is the bundling of foods in fresh green plantain leaves and then cooking them over hot coals or fire.
  Cameroonian cuisine is one of the most varied in Africa due to its location on the crossroads between the north, west, and center of the continent; added to this is the profound influence of French food, a legacy of the colonial era.
  Congolese cuisine (Democratic Republic of the Congo) is one of the most diverse cuisines of the continent since it sits between east and southern Africa and received  culinary influence from the Portuguese and Middle Eastern and Indian influences via the Swahili. Moambé Chicken is the national dish.
  Centrafrican cuisine in the Central African Republic includes Middle Eastern and French influences.
caption: Sakamadesu (Tshakamadesu) is a common dish from Congo made with cassave leaves
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