Toucouleur-Fulani Senegalese

Toucouleur-Fulani cuisine is the food of Senegal's northern Senegal River valley — Saint-Louis, Podor, Bakel — where the Toucouleur (Halpulaar) people farm millet and the Fulani (Peul) people herd cattle across the Sahel. The cuisine is distinct from Wolof in three ways: millet (souna, fonio) is the staple grain instead of rice; fermented milk (kossam) features in many meals; and the river-fish protein (Nile perch, Senegal River catfish) shapes the signature curries.

Niri (fish in peanut-and-tomato sauce with cassava and sweet potato) is the Toucouleur Friday meal — served over millet couscous (thiéré). Kossam ak souna (fermented milk and toasted millet) is the universal drink-snack of Fulani pastoralists across the Sahel, eaten as breakfast or summer refresher. Capitaine à la Saint-Louisienne is the colonial-era French-influenced fish dish from Saint-Louis (Senegal's first colonial capital). The cuisine is less internationally famous than Wolof but increasingly visible as Saint-Louis becomes a tourist destination and Senegal-River-valley restaurants in Dakar bring the north's food south.