Unfortunately, I could not easily find many recipes from The Republic of Benin, an integral country in Western Africa that is known for being the birthplace of voodoo.

Voodoo, as it originated in Benin, is a religion that is very misunderstood and unfortunately not been helped by fictional movies and pop culture.

Benin was also where many of the enslaved people who were kidnapped by Europeans were put on boats to head across the Atlantic into the New World.

I’m not sure how much of that I wanted to convey to Sam in our project. The horrors of slavery is a terrible part of history that we must teach, but I’m not quite ready to share that concept with my three year old. He has plenty of time to learn about the injustices and horrors in the world.

Instead, I tried to focus on the culture of Benin and the food. Not sure he took much away from this one (the only dish he was really impressed with was the side of white rice), but at least he is now familiar with Benin as a country and its unique geographic shape.

THE CUISINE

If you’ve not watched the Netflix show High on the Hog, you must stop what you’re doing. Well, no, finish this post, watch the accompanying video, subscribe, and then stop what you’re doing. Whenever you do it, you should watch the show and watch it soon.

It’s about the significant influence African cuisine has had on American food. It delves pretty deep and is endlessly fascinating and enlightening.

I bring this up because the very first episode starts with the host visiting the country of Benin to understand a bit of the roots of West African cuisine. You see, Benin’s coast on the Gulf of Guinea was known as the Slave Coast because this is where many enslaved people were held in captivity and sent to the New World. Many Black Americans can trace their ancestors back to this land.

At the time Benin was known as the Kingdom of Dahomey. And like many African countries, the modern cuisine is a culmination of both traditional African foods and European influence (especially French).

Seafood is obviously huge, especially in the southern part of the country, considering its situation on the Gulf of Guinea. But chicken, beef, and goat are also very popular when available. And the proteins are generally fried in peanut or red palm oil.

Corn, peanuts, and tomatoes are also very prevalent and found in almost all dishes. And probably from the French influence, most dishes are served with a thick flavorful sauce, especially spicy peanut sauces.

And as you’ll see on High on the Hog, there is a young generation evolving Beninese food to a modern audience. Do yourself a favor and stream it. Just not on an empty stomach.

BENINESE FOOD IN NEW YORK

From what I can gather, there is not a large community in New York from Benin. And because of that, there is not a dedicated Beninese restaurant to my knowledge.

But similar West African cuisine can be found in the Harlem, the Bronx, and Brooklyn. We’ll delve more into that when we get to the food of places like Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, and Ivory Coast.

It seems the closest restaurant would be a place like Bognan International. which specializes in the food of Togo, Benin’s neighbor to the west.

THE VIDEO

Sam and I contemplate the shape of the country of Benin (it looks like a key!) and reminisce about some of the other African recipes we created on this journey.

There is also a good deal of muscle needed to squeeze all of the oil out of the peanuts before frying them as Kuli Kuli. Sam shows off his strength by getting just about every part of his upper body involved.

It was a fun project. As you’ll read below, the final product wasn’t so successful but in this case it was the journey that really counts.

THE DISHES