The History and Use of Cassava in West Africa

My perception of cassava shifted while in Ivory Coast. In Ghana, I only saw cassava used in the pounding of fufu, and mixed with corn dough to make banku. However, in Ivory Coast, the various ways in which cassava is used, not just the root vegetable in making attieke and placali, but also the leaves in making soup, made me wonder about the underutilization of cassava.

Cassava Farm, Kononfla, Ivory Coast

What I am realizing is, many African countries share common, if not the same ingredients, it is the food preparation and variety that differs. 

Cassava was first introduced to West Africa from Brazil by Portuguese merchants as a form of trade around the 16th century. It was then introduced to East Africa through Zanzibar and Madagascar. It was during the 20th century that cassava spread from the coast to the main lands of the African continent. It gained popularity as a food secure crop; a reserve against famine.

Peeled Cassava

Cassava is now an important traditional and cultural food across the beautiful continent of Africa. In countries like Ivory Coast, cassava is an important crop consumed in the household. It is used to make the national dish, Attieke, a fermented cassava pulp that has been grated or granulated. 

Attieke can be eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is a meal that connects adults, children, and seniors. In fact, if you are not served this meal when you visit an Ivorian home, then you really did not visit.

Attieke Process

Moreover, cassava is now produced in abundance in West Africa. In Ghana, it is cooked and pounded in a mortar and pestle for fufu along with boiled green plantain. In Nigeria, it is processed into gari, small hard grains like couscous, and used to make a variety of dishes, such as eba.

Cassava & Plantain Fufu

No part of cassava goes to waste.

The skin or peels of the cassava are dried and fed to animals. Even during the attieke making process, the water squeezed from the fermented cassava, the starch, is used to harden cloths.

When cassava is processed, it can be used as a gluten free flour. Moreover, among the Yacouba people in Ivory Coast, cassava leaves are also used to make their bawin soup. 

For many Nigerian and Ghanaian students in boarding schools, gari was an important provision. A favourite meal of many boarding students was adding milk and peanuts to gari, to maximize their food stuff. Another affordable favourite was gari, fried plantain, and beans. 

Cassava is replacing other root crops such as yams in humid areas, and corn in the non humid zone. It is also substituting crops that require higher soil fertility, production labour, and easily insects ravaged crops. 

Cassava is one of many foods that traders, merchants, and colonizers brought pre and during colonialism. It has become an important part of many traditional African cuisines. Foods such as fufu, futou, attieke, and eba have almost become national dishes in some countries, as they strongly represent particular ethnic groups. 

I would like to boldly state that cassava is an important cultural identity, it’s almost synonymous with West African cooking. Not only is it an evidence of Portuguese trade, but also a representation of how different foods can flourish and thrive on the African soil.