Angolan cuisine

A typical Portuguese feijoada à transmontana
Location of Angola

Angolan cuisine is the cuisine of Angola, a country in south-central Africa. Because Angola was a Portuguese colony for centuries, Portuguese cuisine has significantly influenced Angolan cuisine, with many foods being imported from Portugal.[1]

Ingredients

Staple ingredients include flour, beans and rice, fish, pork and chicken, various sauces, and vegetables such as sweet potato, tomatoes, onions, and okra. Spices such as garlic are also frequently seen.[1]

Dishes

Fish calulu, a typical dish from Angola and São Tomé e Príncipe
Moamba de galinha, traditional dish of Luanda - palm oil, cassava flour porridge, okra, plantains, wild spinach
Maize (left) and cassava (right) funge, a typical side dish in Angola
Feijão de óleo de palma  Beans with palm oil, a traditional dish of Angola

Funge (or funje, Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈfũʒɨ̥]) and pirão ([piˈɾɐ̃w]) are very common dishes, and in poorer households often consumed at every meal. The dish can be eaten with fish, pigs, chicken, and beans. Funge de bombo ([dɨ ˈbõbu]), more common in northern Angola, is a paste or porridge of cassava (also called manioc or yuca), made from cassava flour. It is gelatinous in consistency and gray in color. Pirão, yellow in color and similar to polenta, is made from cornflour and is more common in the south. Fubá ([fuˈba]) is the term for the flour that is used to make either funge and pirão, also used to make angu, the Brazilian polenta. Both foods are described as bland but filling and are often eaten with sauces and juices or with gindungo (see below), a spicy condiment.[2]

Moamba de galinha (or chicken moamba, [ˈmwɐ̃ba dɨ ɡɐˈɫĩɲɐ]) is chicken with palm paste, okra, garlic and palm oil hash or red palm oil sauce, often served with rice and funge. Both funge and moamba de galinha have been considered the national dish.[2][3] A variant dish of moamba de galinha, muamba de ginguba, uses ginguba ([ʒĩˈɡubɐ], peanut sauce) instead of palm paste.[2][4]

Other dishes common in Angolan cuisine include:

Beverages

Cerveja N'Gola, an Angolan beer

A number of beverages, alcoholic and non-alcoholic, are typical to Angola.[2]

Various homemade spirits are made, including capatica (made from bananas, a Cuanza Norte specialty), caporoto (made from maize, a Malanje specialty); cazi or caxipembe (made from potato and cassava skin); kimbombo (made from corn), maluva or ocisangua (made with palm tree juice, sometimes described as "palm wine,"[1] a Northern Angola specialty), ngonguenha (made from toasted manioc flour), and ualende (made from sugarcane, sweet potato, corn, or fruits, a Bie specialty).[2] Other beverages are Kapuka (homemade vodka), ovingundu (mead made from honey), and Whiskey Kota (homemade whisky).[2]

Popular non-alcoholic drinks include Kussangua, a Southern Angola specialty, a traditional non-alcoholic drink made of cornflour, as been used in indigenous healing rituals.[2][13] Soft drinks such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Mirinda, Sprite, and Fanta are also popular. While some soft-drinks are imported from South Africa, Namibia, Brazil, and Portugal, the Angolan soft-drink industry has grown, with Coca-Cola plants in Bom Jesus, Bengo, and Lubango opening since 2000.[1]

Mongozo is a traditional homemade beer made from palm nuts, a specialty of the Lundas (Lunda Norte and Lunda Sul).[2] Mongozo was brewed by the Chokwe people before the arrival of Europeans, and mongozo is now commercially produced for export, including to Belgium, where it is produced by Van Steenberge.[1]

Various commercial beers are brewed in Angola, the oldest of which is Cuca, brewed in Luanda. Others include Eka (brewed in Dondo in Cuanza Sul), N'gola (brewed in Lubango), and Nocal (brewed in Luanda).[2]

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Adebayo Oyebade, Culture and Customs of Angola (2007). Greenwood, p. 109.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 2.22 2.23 2.24 2.25 2.26 2.27 2.28 2.29 2.30 2.31 2.32 2.33 2.34 2.35 2.36 2.37 Mike Stead and Sean Rorison. Angola (2010). Bradt Travel Guides, pp. 81-83.
  3. James Minahan. The Complete Guide to National Symbols and Emblems, Volume 2 (2009). Greenwood: p. 792.
  4. Igor Cusack, "African Cuisines: Recipes for Nation-Building?" In Internationalizing Cultural Studies: An Anthology (M. Ackbar Abbas and John Nguyet Erni, editors). Wiley-Blackwell (2005): p. 369.
  5. Cherie Hamilton, "Brazil: A Culinary Journey." Hippocrene Books (2005), p. 7.
  6. Glenn Rinsky and Laura Halpin Rinsky, The Pastry Chef's Companion: A Comprehensive Resource Guide for the Baking and Pastry Professional (2008). John Wiley and Sons, p. 70.
  7. Heidemarie Vos, Passion of a Foodie: An International Kitchen Companion (2010). Strategic: p. 139.
  8. 1,001 Foods to Die For (2007). Andrews McMeel, p. 380.
  9. Jessica B. Harris, The Africa Cookbook: Tastes of a Continent (1998). Simon and Schuster, p. 288.
  10. Heidemarie Vos, Passion of a Foodie: An International Kitchen Companion (2010). Strategic: p. 357.
  11. Laurens Van der Post, First Catch Your Eland (1978). Morrow, 113.
  12. José Eduardo Agualusa, Gods and Soldiers: The Penguin Anthology of Contemporary African Writing (editor Rob Spillman). (2009). Penguin.
  13. Uwe Peter Gielen, Jefferson M. Fish, and Juris G. Draguns. Handbook of Culture, Therapy, and Healing (2004). Psychology Press, p. 338.

External links

Media related to Cuisine of Angola at Wikimedia Commons