Cameroon

Country - Cameroon

Cuisine Description - The Republic of Cameroon is located in Central Africa. Cameroon was a German colony from the late 1870s and until the end of World War I, when it was split between the English and the French. The French Cameroon and the English Cameroon gained their independence and merged in 1961 to form The Federal Republic of Cameroon. Due to the French influences and its location on the crossroads between the north, west, and centre of the continent, the cuisine of Cameroon is one of the most varied in Africa. The French introduced bread and Italian pasta to the cuisine of Cameroon, while the English introduced European desserts. However, the staple foods in Cameroon remained traditional. They include cassava, yam, rice, plantain, Potato, maize, beans and millet. maize is the cereal that is most cherished by the indigenes, while rice consumption is less popular. The main source of protein for most inhabitants is fish, while bush meat is also often consumed. The most popular bush meat is the giant rat. Poultry and other types of meat are very expensive and they are eaten at special occasions. Because Cameroon is blessed with a very fertile soil, a wide variety of vegetables and fruits, both domestic and imported species, are grown here.

Cameroon is divided in ten provinces (Adamaoua, Centre, Est, Extreme-Nord, Littoral, Nord, Nord-Ouest, Ouest, Sud, Sud-Ouest). There are many ethnic groups inhabiting these provinces, each with its own culture and cuisine. The most important tribes are Cameroon Highlanders, Equatorial Bantu, Kirdi, Fulani, North western Bantu and Eastern Nigritic.
In the Centre and South provinces, plantain is considered as the staple food of the populations. maize is also very popular, while rice is consumed on special occasions. The Centre and South region is particularly characterized by certain dishes like Kwem (young cassava leaves with the juice from palm nuts), Nnam ngon (marrow paste cooked with plantain leaves), Nnam owondo and Ndomba tsit (meat cooked tied in plantain leaves).
While tuber crops and plantains are staple foods in the southern part of Cameroon, cereals, millet are the staples in the northern parts. maize is consumed almost everywhere, especially in the western part of Adamaoua. In the Nord, Extreme-Nord and Adamaoua provinces, the most commonly eaten meat is Beef taken from the herds which make up the wealth of North Cameroon. The people that inhabit the northern regions also eat insects (termites, the karite caterpillars and others) and small hunting products: birds, field mice, squirrels, rats and frogs.
Cuisine of the Cameroonian Littoral Province
In the cuisine of the Littoral Province the most important ingredients are cocoyams, cassava, beans, kalokaschia, leaves, grains and nuts. These vegetables are cultivated, but in some regions they grow spontaneously. There are many ethnic groups inhabiting this province, each with its own culture and traditional cuisine. For example, the Bassas and Bakokos’ traditional dish is palm nut (‘mbanga’) soup with fish or meat, eaten with cooked cassava rolls. The Dualas tribe prefer the bitterleaf soup, cooked with Squash grains or peanuts and eaten with boiled plantains.
The regional speciality of the Littoral Province is Ekoki. The ingredients for this dish include the Vigna beans variety and the Voandzou (Matobo) grains. This dish is served with plantains, cocoyams or kolokashia. Another speciality of this province is the Yellow Soup served with cocoyams.
Cuisine of the West Province
Fufu made using corn is the staple food of this province. Besides corn, other important ingredients in the West Province’s cuisine are tubers like yams, cocoyams, cassava and sweet potatoes. Tubers and banana are quite often cooked in a mixture with a variety of meats (goat, sheep, Pork, Beef, Chicken and bush meat). These mixtures are called Kondre and they are served with corn Fufu, pounded Kolokashia or Yellow Soup. There are many leaves used as vegetables in this cuisine. Some of them are kolokashia, cocoyam, cassava and beans leaves. The usual cooking method for these leaves is mixing them with palm oil and seasoning with salt and pepper.
In some parts of the West Province (Bamboutos Division and parts of Menoua) people eat more exotic dishes. The main ingredients of these dishes include the flesh of dog, cats and snakes. The larvae of certain insects are considered delicacies.
The most important fruit cultivated here is Mbu (a purplish-blue fruit looking like a small plum). Sauces are a big part of any meal in this area. There are two kinds of sauces that are specific to the West Province. One of them is Nkui and the other is a Groundnut sauce cooked with fish or meat. Copyright Recipes Wiki