The African Foodstuff

Are you new to African foods? Wondering what the traditional African eats? Join us as we take a journey back to Africa and investigate what the true African foodstuff is made up of!

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The African landscape is blessed with a most fertile of soils from which sprouts a plethora of flora with an almost endless collection of fauna found in her thick tropical rain forest up to the savanna , even into the Sahara and beyond.

In the traditional Africans setting devoid of war or the negative effect of crushing urbanization, comes a collection of lovely food fruits, seeds, tubers, vegetables, corms, stems, roots, let alone the variety of species of fish, game animals, sea foods and animals reared for protein.

African foodstuff often consist of starchy meals made from maize (corn), cassava, millet, barley, sorghum, plantain, cocoyam, sweet potato, yam, rice, and wheat.

These starchy main meals are eaten with the African vegetable stew or soup made from a combination of fresh vegetables, or pulses and fish or meat or a combination of all the above, thus helping to provide a balance diet.

Legumes like melon (egusi) cowpeas, beans, groundnuts (peanuts) and other fruit seeds like pumpkin seed, ogbono seed, sesame seed, also features in most African meals and provide rich source of protein.

In African nomadic communities, cow or goat milk, is often as porridge combined with the above mentioned grains.

Fruits trees are found growing in most compounds or premises and apart from providing shades from the hot African sun, their fruits are a welcomed source of nourishing vitamins.

Many "exotic" fruits found on the shelfs at supermarkets in the western world constitutes what the African peasant eats on the street on daily basis...tropical oranges, grapes, banana, mangoes, pawpaw (papaya), guava, coconut, pineapple, carrots, blackcurrant, soursop (Annona muricata), Avogadro pear, nectarines ,dates, figs, cashew nuts, to name a few.

African foods are known to be very rich in fibre, and low fat. This is the kind of food advocated these days. No wonder several bowel disorders common in the western society are unknown or very rare in Africa. Crohns disease is an example.

A LIST OF AFRICAN FOODSTUFF

We have a list of African foodstuff here. This list is set to grow as we include more on our catalogue. Most items here truly represents West African food items, though some of these ingredients also form the basis of meals from other parts of Africa.

Also learn briefly what each foodstuff is used for. You definitely can read more at the recipes section as you continue to learn about African food.