While researching the country of Senegal before I moved here just over a year ago, the food aspect of my new life seemed pretty easy to read about online. I visited a few West African restaurants in my city and loved the dishes they offered. I also chatted with some former Peace Corps volunteers from neighboring countries about their local diet. My mom even looked up some recipes and made a chicken and rice dish that purported to be of Senegalese origins!
I read about how seasonally people eat here with cucumber becoming overwhelmingly available at one time of the year and then beans at another time and corn and carrots at another time. It sounded like a healthy, natural way to eat; a trendy style now even in America where people try to shop organic and local only, eating their way around the seasons.
I won't say I was dead-wrong about the food, but there is definitely a disconnect between the internet and my remote Senegalese village. (I mean, of course there is!)
Breakfast
The Senegalese Sandwich: An unspoken rule of this country is that every man, woman and child will eat a baguette sandwich every day of their life for breakfast, no exceptions. My town has around seven sandwich shops that offer a variety of fillings for the Tapilapa bread, which is a Senegalese version of the baguette.
