Congolese Cuisines

The Congolese cuisine has influences of the techniques used by the French and Belgian when cooking. For instance the way they braise and comfit their meat. In DRC the most common method used is subsistence farming. They mostly grow sweet potatoes, cassava, yam, taro, plantains, beans, ground nuts, tomatoes and okra. The day to day food eaten in Congo is very healthy. Many people in DRC farm their own food and eat fresh, unprocessed foods. The main meal is cassava – it is harvested then pounded into fufu. Fufu and sautéed cassava leaves are then eaten as a meal.

In DRC the main source of animal protein eaten is chicken and goat meat. Other sources of meat include, small fish, bush meat, caterpillars etc. However, the fish is first steamed on banana leaves.

Food practices

Some foods like rice are eaten across the country. However, food choices are usually reliant on the local location and how available it is. Below is more on what kind of food is eaten in which parts:

• Northern (They eat cassava roots and leaves with either meat, fish, vegetables or legumes)
• Southern (Maize, legumes, meat, vegetables  and sweet potato)
• Eastern (Potato, beans (green and dried), cassava, meat and vegetables.
• Western (Cassava eaten with fish, meat and vegetables.)
• Central (Cassava, potatoes, meat, maize or fish)

The eating of either fish or meat varies depending on wealth and availability in different regional areas.

Main and other meals

• Moamba is a peanut butter sauce or dish.
• Musaka is a dish made from palm nut pericarp (without the seeds). The palm nut is the fruit of the African palm oil tree also known as Elaeis guineensisin in western Africa.
• Ngai Ngai is a leaf known as oseille in French and as Sorrel in English.
• Chikwangue or kwanga is made from cassava. It is cooked and stored in banana leaves, it is darker in some parts of the country, nearly white in other parts.
• Fufu is a sticky dough-like dish made from cassava flour. This is the main dish just like rice or potatoes in other countries.
• Loso na madesu – A mixture of rice and beans.
• Sombe or Pondu are boiled, pounded and then cooked cassava leaves
• Ndakala are small dried fish
• Pili pili is very hot pepper
• Palm wine made from the sap of a wild palm tree. Fermented by natural yeast, therefore, giving an alcohol content of between 5%- 7%.
• Mbembe are snails
• Mulenda, or Dongo-dongo okra.
• Soso is Chicken and Rice in Congo.
• Ntaba or Ngulu yako tumba (Grilled goat or Pork)
• Mbisi ya Mayi (poisson de mere)
• Steamed pumpkin seed pudding known as Liboke Ya mbika
• Alao Liboke ya ngulu is pork pepper soup steamed in banana leaves.
• Liboke ya mbisi being hot fish soup steamed in banana leaves.
• Mikate known as deep fried dough balls
• Makelele are grasshoppers)
• Pain mwambe (peanut butter bread)
• Makayabu (saltfish)
• Kamundele (kebab sticks, beef on skewers)
• Thomson (Horse Mackrel)
• Mbewngi (black eyed beans)
• Loso ya bulayi (Congolese jollof rice)
• Madesu (bean stew)
• Pondu Ya madesu (Cassava leaves mixed with beans)