Yassa, Mafe, Diebou Dien

The Senegalese Way

Appears in

Published 1998

About

Egret enjoying a paddy near Marsassoum in Casamance

I went to Senegal, never having been to West Africa, following the trail of rice, wanting to know more about the people and the places from which so many American and Caribbean rice traditions sprang. When I got there, I happily found not only rice, but a whole lot of great food, including several dishes that have become big favorites in our house.

West Africa has an ancient rice-growing tradition. Long before the arrival of Arab or Portuguese traders, the Diola people of the Casamance region of southern Senegal were cultivating rice. The rices they grew were of the African species Oryza glaberrima, and they also gathered rice grains from wild species. Archaeologists believe that the Casamance was one of the original rice growing regions of Africa. From here, rice cultivation spread inland as well as northward and southward, establishing itself where there were wet lands or large rivers.