Celtnet Beninese Recipes and Cookery, Home Page

Benin, officially: République du Bénin; Republic of Benin was formerly known as Dahomey (until 1975) or Dahomania. Its capital is Porto Novo, but the seat of government is Cotonou. The name "Benin" has no proper connection to Kingdom of Benin (or Benin City). The name Dahomey was changed in 1975 to The People's Republic of Benin, named after the body of water on which the country lies, the Bight of Benin. This name was picked due to its neutrality, since the current political boundaries of Benin encompass over fifty distinct linguistic groups and nearly as many individual ethnic groups. There are several dozen ethnolinguistic groups in Benin, representing three of Africa's language families: Niger-Congo, Nilo-Saharan, and Afroasiatic. The latter is represented by Hausa living mostly as merchants in the north, while Nilo-Saharan is represented by the Dɛndi, descending from the Songhai Empire. The Dɛndi language predominates along the Niger River in the far north, and is used as a lingua franca in Muslim areas throughout the north, in Alibori, Borgou, and Donga provinces. The largest ethnic group are the Fon, with 1.7 million speakers of the Fon language (2001), followed by the various Yoruba groups (1.2 million), the Aja (600,000), the Bariba (460,000), the Ayizo (330,000), the Fulbe (310,000), and the Gun (240,000). Near the ports in the south can be found people of lighter skin who are descended from returned Brazilian slaves. There are also small numbers of Europeans, principally French, and Asians, mainly Lebanese and Indians. ndigenous religions are followed by a majority of the people. They include local animistic religions in the Atakora (Atakora and Donga provinces) and Vodun among the Yoruba and Tado peoples in the center and south of the country. The town of Ouidah on the central coast is the spiritual center of Beninese vodun.

Traditional Beninese recipes are rich in rice, corn, beans, yams, cassava and millet while the most popular meat found in Benin is fish and Chicken. In common with much of West Africa, due to its relative expense meat is consumed only on special occasions. Due to its having been a French colony there is a significant French influence in Beninese cuisine. The country is also rich in vegetables such as oranges, bananas, mandarin oranges, pineapples, kiwi, avocado and peanuts. These are commonly used in recipes and Beninese cuisine is recognized all through Africa for it's exotic ingredients and cooking methods.