West African Cuisine - History

History

Centuries before the influence of Europeans, West African people were trading with the Arab world. Items like rice and cinnamon were introduced, and became part of the local culinary traditions. Centuries later, the Portuguese, French and British influenced the regional cuisines, but only to a limited extent. However, as far as is known, it was European explorers and slaves ships who brought chili peppers and tomatoes from the New World, and both have become ubiquitous components of West African cuisines, along with peanuts, corn, cassava, and plantains. In turn, these slave ships carried African ingredients to the New World, including black-eyed peas and okra. Around the time of the colonial period, particularly during the Scramble for Africa, The European settlers defined colonial borders without regard to pre-existing borders, territories or cultural differences of tribal cultures. This bisected tribes and created colonies with varying culinary styles. As a result, it is difficult to sharply define, for example, Senegalese cuisine. Although the European colonists brought many new ingredients to the African continent, they had relatively little impact on the way people cook in West Africa. Its strong culinary tradition lives on despite the influence of colonization and food migration that occurred long ago.