Togolese
Akume corn pâte and dark-green gboma sauce — the Ewe everyday plate.
Akume
Togo's national pâte — a thick savory porridge of ground maize and water, stirred over heat until it forms a firm, smooth, slightly elastic mass. Eaten with sauces (pâtes) of fish, eggplant, tomato, or spinach. Akume is the daily staple across Togo, especially in southern households. Source: Wikipedia (Togolese cuisine), Chef's Pencil 'Top 15 Popular Foods in Togo'.
View page →Togo is the thin coastal sliver between Benin and Ghana, and its kitchen sits at the seam between the Ewe-Mina south and the Kabyé-Tem-Tchamba north. The defining starches are akume (smooth corn pâte) and djenkoumé (its red-cooked tomato-and-palm-oil cousin), eaten with dark-green leaf sauces. Gboma dessi — slow-simmered African nightshade greens and eggplant in palm oil and smoked fish — is the dish Togolese diaspora cooks miss most; ask any Lomé family. Sauce d'arachide, the West African peanut stew, leans ginger-forward here and is poured over fufu (pounded yam-cassava). Koklo meme, free-range chicken marinated in ginger-garlic-scotch-bonnet and grilled over wood charcoal, is the Lomé beachside Friday ritual; ablo, fermented corn-rice cakes steamed in banana leaves, is its perfect carbohydrate partner. From the north come the Sahelian millet staples, the soumbala (fermented locust bean) umami, and the Peul yogurt traditions.
On the Map
Where this cuisine is found
The Palate
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Gboma (African nightshade leaves) and eggplant slow-simmered with palm oil, smoked fish, tomato, scotch bonnet, and onion into a deep dark-green sauce. Ladled over akume or rice.
Why start here · Togo's national sauce. The Ewe homeland comfort dish; the clearest single taste of the Togolese kitchen.
Corn flour cooked with water into a smooth, dense, slightly-firm white block. Torn by hand and dipped in sauce.
Why start here · Togo's universal carbohydrate. The Ewe and Mina spine of every southern Togolese meal.
Small free-range chicken marinated in ginger, garlic, scotch bonnet, lemon, and palm oil, grilled over wood-charcoal until smoke-perfumed and gently charred.
Why start here · Lomé's universal beachside grill. The Friday-night street ritual that defines coastal Togolese eating.
The Pantry
See all 32 ingredients›
Proteins
Grains & Staples
Dairy & Fats
Sauces & Condiments
Other
Regional Styles
Maritime South (Lomé, Aného)
The Atlantic coast and Ewe-Mina heartland. Akume, gboma dessi, koklo meme grilled chicken, and ablo steamed cakes.
Central Plateau (Atakpamé, Sokodé)
The transitional plateau where Ewe meets Kabyé and Tem. Djenkoumé red-cooked pâte and peanut sauces.
Northern Savanna (Kara, Dapaong)
The Sahel reach, Kabyé and Moba lands. Millet pâtes, soumbala fermented-locust-bean umami, and Peul dairy traditions.
How They Cook
Techniques that define this cuisine
