Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Food & Drink
Burkinabé food is largely influenced by Senegalese and Côte d'Ivoire cuisines. Sauces,
especially
arachide
(groundnut) or
graine
(a hot sauce made with oil-palm nuts), are the
mainstay and are always served with a starch - usually rice (it's called
riz sauce
or
riz
gras
) or the Burkinabé staple,
tô,
a millet- or sorghum-based
pâte
(a pounded, doughlike
substance). The Ivorian
attiéké
(grated cassava),
aloco
(plantain fried with chilli in palm
oil) and
kedjenou
(simmered chicken or fish with vegetables) are also commonly found.
Grilled dishes of chicken, mutton, beef, guinea fowl, fish (especially Nile perch, known
locally as
capitaine
) and agouti (a large rodent) also feature on the menu. In the Sahel,
couscous (semolina grains) is widely available.
Castel, Flag, Brakina, Beaufort and So.b.bra are popular and palatable lagers. More ad-
venturous - and potent - is
dolo
(millet beer). Locally produced juices include
bissap
(hi-
biscus),
gingembre
(ginger), tamarind and mango; soft drinks are available everywhere,
too.
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Environment
Landlocked Burkina Faso's terrain ranges from the harsh desert and semidesert of the
north to the woodland and savannah of the green southwest. Around Banfora rainfall is
heavier, and forests thrive alongside irrigated sugar-cane and rice fields; it's here that most
of Burkina Faso's meagre 13% of arable land is found. The country's dominant feature,
however, is the vast central laterite plateau of the Sahel, where hardy trees and bushes
thrive.
Burkina's former name, Haute Volta (Upper Volta), referred to its three major rivers -
the Black, White and Red Voltas, known today as the Mouhoun, Nakambé and Nazinon
Rivers. All flow south into the world's second-largest artificial lake, Lake Volta, in Ghana.
