Sheep Testicles Taste like Licorice...

In regards to the international culinary scene, Americans generally keep to a short list of players, with adventurous eating opportunities only presenting themselves so often. Moreover, the standard choices for ‘ethnic’ fare—Italian, Chinese, Mexican, and the like—are generally so dialed down and ‘Americanized’ that finding truly authentic dishes can become a challenge in even the most cosmopolitan of settings.

Yet there are those who avidly search, and quickly discover, the hidden morsels of the gastronomic world—the meals that come only after ordering off of a menu you barely understand from someone who you may understand even less. Fortunately for Americans, though, you don’t have to travel too far to find such experiences. There are eye opening dining options in even the smallest of towns in our country, so long as you’re willing to look.

I realized this some time ago, and had the fortune of being raised outside of a city where eating, and to a lesser extent eating unique fare, is quite encouraged. Still, though, for the many times I went looking for ethnic food, I can honestly say I never so much as came across a West African option. To even the most daring and/or knowledgeable of eaters, the food of this region is very much an unknown.

I suppose it has something to do with marketing. Most in the developed world see Africa as a place of hardship, where even if you’re not starving, you’re certainly not eating that much.

In reality the proper preparation of a good meal is just as important here as in America, and I have honestly found that once you get past an initial awkwardness, you find meals that you absolutely crave.

Of course, I’m not talking about a five course bourgeois feast either. Togolese fare (and by extension the food of this larger area) is quite simple, and largely based on the agricultural calendar.

The vast majority of the time a meal includes a carbohydrate/cereal/grain base with a sauce. I feel like 9 times out of 10 the base is pate, which is a corn meal porridge that is left to solidify; the closest thing to an American would be grits or Italian polenta. It is usually served with a green leaf sauce made with spinach or chard like leaves, red palm oil, and often with okra.

Rice is also common, especially in areas where it is able to be grown, such as where I live. It is often eaten with similar leaf sauces, but is most popular with a spicy tomato or peanut sauce.

Fufu is probably the most popular dish and is most often ate on Sundays or when money is available. It is basically mashed yams, which are pounded with long poles in a deep wooden pestle until it is sort of coagulated. To a newcomer it’s really nothing like mashed potatoes in America but to me it has taken on the same comfort food role, and is thus sorely missed when yams are out of season as they are now. If meat is available locals make a delicious gravy to go along with it that is spiced in my region with fresh peppercorn (not dried). If there is no meat then peanut, tomato, or eggplant sauce is substituted.

These are all typical family meals, but Togo also has a very consistent and somewhat odd availability of Western dishes. In most larger towns there are cafeterias along the roads that you can buy the same few things: spaghetti, couscous, and egg omelet sandwiches. Without fail, there are always egg sandwiches smothered in mayonnaise and fried with more oil than anyone should possibly need to fry a couple eggs. Along the street there is also a consistent supply of beans and rice, grilled corn, peanuts, fried tofu, rice porridge and many types or fruits and veggies.

I could go on more but will leave it there…

À la prochain!

J

ps- those sheep testicles, if you could believe it, were rather delicious…