Favorite snack: Croissants, especially chocolate croissants! Since Senegal is a former French colony, you will find patisseries (French pastry shops) and boulangeries (bakeries) all over Dakar. You will also find baguettes in every Senegalese home!
Favorite drink: Citron which means lemon juice in French. In the United States, we drink lemonade, but if you order lemonade in Senegal, they will give you a small glass of lemon juice, which is super sour! They will then bring a mini pitcher of water and sweetener, which you add to the lemon juice to make your own lemonade. I was actually drinking citron when I wrote this article!
During my first week in Senegal, I tried attaya, which means tea in Wolof. Attaya is made with green tea, mint, and sugar. The attaya is served in tiny glasses and has foam on the top. Since that time, I drink attaya at the end of every lunch or when I get invited to a local's home.
At first, I was surprised that attaya tastes sweet and bitter at the same time. At the end of a large meal, it feels super-refreshing, and the foam tastes amazing. Drinking attaya every day helped create a routine during my first days in Senegal.
