Central African Republic

Ask what the Central African Republic eats and the answer starts with this: cassava gozo with pounded leaf sauces, squash-seed kanda, river fish and peanut-thickened stews. Look for Gozo (cassava-flour paste, the everyday swallow for sauces), Ngoundja (pounded cassava leaves stewed with palm oil, peanut butter and fish) and Kanda (steamed squash-seed and minced-meat balls in tomato-palm sauce). The Sango name for cassava dough pounded stiff, the staple that replaced older yam and banana starches as cassava spread up the Ubangi. This atlas has 24 Central African Republic dishes catalogued below, from everyday cooking to food kept for festivals and special occasions.