Senegal Food Guide

The staple diet of the Senegalese is basically millet gruel served with vegetables and meat stews. The food is interesting and local specialties include poulet or poisson yassa, marinated and grilled chicken or fish; tieboudienne, rice baked in thick sauce of fish and vegetables with pimiento and tomato sauce and mafé, a peanut-based stew. Despite being a predominantly Muslim country, alcohol is available. Senegalese beer is pretty good - Gazelle and Flag are popular local brands. The traditional drink and local favourite is mint tea, drunk in little cups with three cups making up one serving. Each successive cup increases in sweetness with the third and last almost syrupy sweet. The Casamance drink is palm wine, drunk either fresh or fermented; toufam, a sweet buttermilk preparation is a local speciality of the Toucouleur region. A drink unique to Senegal is home-roasted coffee with pimento.