RouteBissau

Guinea-Bissau Cuisine: Smoked Oysters, Caldo & Estuary Seafood

Guinea-Bissau's extraordinary wetland coast produces smoked oysters, mangrove crabs, and Atlantic seafood that underpin one of West Africa's least-known but most flavourful cuisines

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1
Smoked oyster rice
Guinea-Bissau's most distinctive ingredients – mangrove oysters smoked over wood and incorporated into rice dishes – give the national cuisine a unique depth of umami not available anywhere else in West Africa
2
Caldo de Mancarra
Peanut stew with fish or chicken - Guinea-Bissau's version of peanut soup - cooked with palm oil, okra and dried shrimp in a rich, complex sauce served over white rice
3
Mangrove Crab Season
During crab season, the markets are filled with huge mangrove crabs from Bijagós — boiled in seasoned salt water and eaten with bread at roadside tables throughout Bissau
4
Attaya Tea Ceremony
The ceremony of three rounds of green tea – identical to the Mauritanian attaya ritual – is a daily social institution in Bissau; refusing a glass of attaya is a social small
5
Cashew Cashew Economy
Guinea-Bissau is one of the world's largest cashew exporters — during the March corn harvest, the smell of fermenting cashew apples fills the air and the fermented juice is drunk fresh
6
Palm wine from the island
Fresh palm wine from the Bijagós Islands arrives by pirogue to the Bissau market every morning — lightly alcoholic and effervescent gently, it is drunk immediately before fermentation progresses