One meal that connects all of West Africa is Jollof rice. Although we have different names for it and can never agree on who has the best recipe, Jollof rice has overtime become a West African marker.

However, travelling on the Jollof road, the team discovered that beyond Jollof Rice, we have so many similar meals. They left Nigeria on the 22nd of September and since then, have been to four West African countries: Benin Republic, Togo, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. In each country, they’ve discovered so many similarities especially in terms of food.

It’s World Food Day, so we decided to compile a list of different Nigerian foods and their #JollofRoad country version.

Eba

Attiéké (pronounced A-CHE-KE) is a traditional Ivorian dish. Let me tell you, Attiéké and Eba are one and the same. The only difference is that while Attiéké is cooked in tiny lumps, Eba is cooked till it’s a firm dough.

Pounded Yam

Igname Pilée (pronounced EE-nyam Pee-lay) is the Beninese version of pounded yam. It is also eaten in some other parts of West Africa. And as the name suggests, it is cooked with boiled yam. And someone’s sweat, possibly.

Amala Lafun

Amala is known as Pate de Manioc in the Republic of Benin. Wherever you are, legend has it that every consumer of this epicurean goodness always succeeds in life.

Okra

“Le Gombo” is the Ivorian name for Okra soup. It’s also the same name in some other West African countries. The Nigerian and Ivorian version have similar recipes. You either hate it or love it. There’s no in-between. Absolutely no grey area here.

Fufu

Across all the Jollof Road countries we’ve visited so far, Fufu has been the most common. It’s usually accompanied by different soups that are specific to each country and as a result, the taste is never the same.

Watch the Jollof Road team tell us about some of these foods: