Any run-of-the-mill Burkinabé restaurant will most certainly have one or all of the following:
Tô = a millet or corn flour based jello-like dish served with a sauce. Sauces commonly are okra-based (fr. "sauce gumbo" - tends to be on the viscous-side), peanut-based (fr. "sauce arachide"), baobab-leaf-based (not bad tasting, but very slimy), or sorrel-based (fr. "oseille", another green-leaf, a little sour).
You eat this dish by breaking off some tô with a spoon (or, if you want to go local and your hands are washed, use your finger - just remember to use always the right hand, as the left hand is considered "unclean" because it is used for bathroom purposes) and dipping it into the sauce. Definitely an an acquired taste.
FuFu = a pizza-dough-like ball of starch served with a sauce. Made by pounding boiled ignames (sort of a super-sized version of a yucca-potato hybrid). The sauce is usually tomato-based. Eaten in the same manner as tô.
Ragout d'Igname = boiled igname in a tomato sauce.
Riz Gras = Rice cooked in tomato sauce and flavored stock, often with onion. Sometimes served with extra sauce on top, but not a given.
Riz Sauce (Rice and sauce) = Pretty self-explanatory. White rice usually served with a tomato or peanut sauce.
Spaghetti = Usually spaghetti is served au gras as opposed to spaghetti sauce.
Haricots verts = Green-beans, usually from a can, with tomato sauce
Petits pois = Green peas, usually from a can, with tomato sauce
Soupe = usually chicken (fr. "poulet"), guinea fowl (fr. "pintade") or fish (fr. "poisson")
Salade = a salad of lettuce, tomato, cucumber and onion with a mayonnaise-based dressing (mayo, vinegar, salt, pepper)
A Burkina specialty is "Poulet Telévisé" aka televised chicken, or roast chicken, since many locals say if you watch the roaster it is like watching TV!
Snacks:
Beignets = (mooré samsa) fried bean flour
Fried ignames, patate douce (sweet potato french fries)
Alloco = Bbq'd plantains
Brochettes = bbq'd meat sticks, or liver, or tripe, or intestines
Porc au four = baked greasy pork bits served with hot sauce (fr. "piment"), salt, and if you are lucky, mustard. Best enjoyed with a Flag beer (to make "champagne", add some tonic)
Gateau = fried dough. Comes in all sorts of varieties, best when fresh.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Burkina Faso
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Burkina Faso - updated May 2024
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Burkina Faso Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
