Cuisine of Mauritania
The culinary culture in Mauritania is based on traditional products: a lot of mutton, goat or camel meat, because of attachment to livestock.
On the seaside, there is more variety in the dish: since Mauritanian waters are among the most fish-bearing in the world, Fish is therefore more and more consumed. Tieboudienne (rice with fish) or Tiebousauce (rice with fish sauce) are the most common traditional dishes.
Dates are one of the most important nutriments of Mauritanian food, often served at the beginning of a meal soaked in fresh cream or goat’s butter.
The main dishes are:
Al-keçra, a pancake made from wheat flour or barley baked in the oven or in previously heated coal sand
Marouwilham : rice with meat
Kuskus (Gommu), primary food source in most parts of the country, it is prepared with the flour of millet, wheat or barley
Al mechwi: meat cooked in the sand (hofra, oven)
Lattiri : a very fine couscous prepared from sorghum or millet flour and even rice eaten sprinkled with tomato sauce and accompanied by meat or fish or spinach and vegetables or only with fresh milk or sour milk (yoghurt)
Beverages
– Tea
Among nomads, tea is a real ritual of welcome, relaxation and discussions. Served several times a day, it is accredited with many virtues, including those to cut hunger, quench thirst and reduce fatigue. Successively, three cups of tea are served. The preparation of the tea meets exactly the way of life of the nomads, so it should be made delightfully and carefully.
The tea is first rinsed with hot water. It is then put in a teapot with a quantity of thoroughly dosed water, which is left boiling for a moment. Then, the “tea maker” pours and pours the drink into several cups creating foam in each of the cups. The drink is then warmed, sweetened and flavored with mint before being served hot in small cups that keep the essential foam without which some prefer pouting the beverage.
Fresh beverages
– The bissap is a red mixture beverage made from dried red flowers of hibiscus (the same as in Senegal or Mali). It is consumed without moderation in all Mauritanian families. Served cold to quench thirst, or sometimes boiling to cure a sore throat. The natural acidity of the bissap is softened by a high dose of sugar.
– The monkey bread is made from the floury fruit of baobab, which is melted to remove its core. A creamy, slightly granulated drink at its taste and a miracle cure for tormented digestive systems. If small pieces of banana are integrated into it, you will find there the real milkshake of the Sahel.
Milk
In rural societies milk is highly valued because of traditional breeding. This tendency to milk remains as strong in the countryside as in the city. The first thing you will be offered when you arrive at a family will be a “zrig” a sour milk distilled with water, slightly sweetened and blended to be served in a calabash that you pass to your neighbor after soaking your lips in it.
The only alternatives to these local drinks are sodas, which are found everywhere. Mineral water is also very widespread and relatively cheap.
