What Do I Eat in Peace Corps Benin? Part 2

Welcome to Emma's cooking channel, where I show you what I eat in a day.

Breakfast

8 doughnut hole-sized breads that are made out of red bean flour

Maybe an egg or two, depending on what im doing

pancakes with peanut butter

Lunch

One tortilla with pesto and cheese

Rice with egg

Spaghetti

Dinner

Goosi - vegetarian meatball made with seed(like pumpkin) flour and tomato sauce

Spaghetti

Rice with some toppings

Eggplant Parmesan

Bread sandwich with something scrounged up

Here are some of the local foods I have on a regular basis

Sauce Rouge with krinkrin and fish and pate

SAUCES - Sauces are the flavor of the meal

Sauce légumes - sauteed greens with seasonings and usually fish mixed in. Beware of bones. This sauce impaled me with fish bones on more than one occasion and I fear it now.

Sauce krinkrin - boiled greens with a sticky texture usually mixed with other sauces This sauce has the consistency of snot, yum.

Sauce rouge - sauce made with crushed palm nuts; it's orange in color and has a unique taste.

Sauce tomate viande - tomato oil sauce with peppers and usually beef

Sauce d'arachide—Peanut sauce (the best sauce ever) made with ground peanuts, oil, and peppers. It is usually served with wagashi or meat. This sauce is heaven. I live for peanut sauce, but it isn't cooked in my region, which is tragic.

Sauce piment - pure ground-up green peppers, seeds, and all. Strong for low spice tolerance

DJA - thick red sauce made with peppers and usually put on rice or beans or bread

PROTIENS - The Special nutients

Soja -soy cheese fried, tofu but with texture

Wagashi- local cheese goes in many sauces, is spongey, and is usually fried. I adore this cheese, it has almost no flavor but soaks in flavors well. It's almost like tofu and feta combined for texture and taste

Boeuf- usually goes with sauces or street meat. More expensive

Poulet- served with salads, pate rouge, and rice

Lapin - Rabbit sometimes in the village with pate. I actually love rabbits; they're so tasty!!

Chevre/mutton - lamb or goat, usually as street meat or with peanut sauce

Porc- almost always street meat and not usually incorporated into prepared cuisine.

I eat pork at least once a week; it's usually the only meat I can find in my village.

Street meat consists of mixes of various meats and cuts of meat. It should be very hot, and there should not be many flies around.

Pate Rouge and chicken

Akassa with Sauce Legumes

CARBS - The base of the meal - cant eat without this

Pate - Corn flour is boiled into a fairly spongey paste. It soaks in the sauce well

Pate Rouge - same corn flour paste but add tomatoes for a delicious red flavor

Pate Noir - fermented cassava boiled and turned into a paste, more chewy but in a good way

Akassa - fermented corn flour, super sour, falls apart easily. Mochi loves to eat it, but I hate it

Pirone - cassava flour mixed in water with seasonings, makes an almost polenta-type food

Rice - self explanatory

Igname pilee - pounded yams that become almost a dumpling texture, my favorite

Sweet Potato - less sweet than in America, served with spicy sauces or mashed.