Exploring the rich flavors of West African cuisine

Jollof, and the argument that will never end

There is no single recipe for jollof rice. There are as many as there are kitchens. The rice is the same, the tomato paste is the same, and from there every country defends its version the way you defend a flag.

What cooking over wood changes

The slightly burnt layer at the bottom of the pot is not a mistake, it is the part regulars ask for by name. A cook who sells online learns quickly to put it in the dish's title, because that is what makes the order happen.

What travels, and what does not

Not every dish survives twenty minutes on a motorbike. The ones that do have three things in common:

• a sauce that does not split as it cools,
• a texture that does not depend on being crisp,
• a container that lets steam out without letting sauce out.

Plantain, frying, and the question of timing

Fried plantain is the most honest test of a kitchen that delivers. Out of the oil too early and it arrives soft. Too late and it is dry before it even leaves.

Good delivery food is not restaurant food put in a box. It is food cooked to be eaten twenty minutes away.

What the orders tell us

The most ordered dishes are almost never the most elaborate. They are the ones the customer already knows the taste of, and trusts to arrive the way it did last time.