How to use this guide
Ask three questions: What do people call it here? What is it made from? How is it prepared?
These notes compare examples. They are not a map of every community, a ranking of recipes, or a claim of ownership. Food traditions cross borders. Countries also contain many different food traditions.
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4 regional notes shown.
Cooked starches, brought together by pounding
Cassava and plantain are a familiar mix in some settings. Yam and cocoyam also appear. Soups and local food names help explain the meal.
Ask: Which plants are used? Which soup is served? What name does the cook use?
Read the Ghanaian guide ↗A distinct paste, with its own processing story
Research in southeast Nigeria uses “fufu” for a cooked food made from fermented cassava paste. It is distinct from eba made with gari and from pounded yam.
Ask: Is this wet paste or flour? What local name is used? Which soup goes with it?
Read the Nigerian guide ↗The name may refer to flour as well as food
Serge Bahuchet’s synthesis warns that “foufou” in local French can refer to cassava flour, maize flour, or a mix. Do not assume it names the same pounded preparation as a West African use.
Ask: Is the speaker naming a flour or the cooked dish? Which language and place are involved?
Read the French-language study ↗Familiar food, made in a different setting
Research on Nigerians in Belgium records ingredient substitutions when familiar starches were hard to find. A change can tell a story about shops, money, time, and belonging.
Ask: What changed? Why? Which part of the meal feels most important to the cook?
Read the diaspora guide ↗Related foods deserve their own names
Broad food studies sometimes group many starch pastes together. That can help compare crops and processing. It does not mean local names are interchangeable.
Banku, eba, amala, ugali, and chikwangue should not be relabeled as one standard fufu recipe. If your source groups foods together, explain the purpose of the grouping.
Our glossary gives first definitions. A local cook or language specialist can help you check the precise use in a story.
Use a more exact caption
A useful caption pattern
“[Local name], made with [confirmed ingredients], served with [soup], prepared by [cook] in [place], [date]. Photo: [credit].”
Leave out details you cannot confirm. A photo alone cannot show whether a paste was fermented or what flour blend was used.
For background evidence, see the source desk. For origins, see the history guide.
This guide uses published sources and clearly marked editorial advice. It is part of an independent publication by Chef Lola. Check the sources · Send a correction.