And then Cote D'ivoire West Africa And today we are eating some incredibly tasty, incredibly spicy food with the Guerra tribe. Hey everyone, it's Mark Wiens Welcome to the City of Gigolo! We're in Western Cote D'ivoire or Ivory Coast And if you're just joining me on this trip, we're traveling to the most remote regions of the country visiting local Villages Learning about the Unseen food and the Beautiful cultures. Yesterday we were in Grand Berebi where we were treated to an incredibly delicious version of palm nut soup directly from the source. Today we'll make our way up the western side of Cote D'ivoire we'll eat a spicy meal with the Gere tribe experience up close a mysterious mask dance and have a food celebration in Ajine.

So keep on watching. Get ready for delicious food and some unexpected Thrills along the way. Thank you! We are beginning today at restaurant La Payot. She's going to be preparing some of the local Gere tribal dishes which are from this region here in Cotevoir and we're gonna see the full recipes before we eat them.

Parallel variety of mushrooms, a little bit spices that's good. Oh, some kind of like dried shrimp. oh like dried shrimp dried fish I think plus one stick. She's just going through some of the ingredients that are going to go into this dish, but one of the main dishes is going to be with.

Okay, one of the main dishes that she's cooking is with uh, cassava leaves. I Love cassava leaves, but it's very complicated to make because they have to be prepared and cooked in the right way. But she's showing all these ingredients that are going to go into it, including dried shrimp, dried fish, cassava, a variety of dried mushrooms, some chili and spices. There's so many ingredients that are going to go to it into it.

Um, it's going to be a unique dish. the legend. All right. So this is for the Cassava Leaf sauce.

First, those dried variety of dried mushrooms are going in. Actually two yeah, two types of dried mushrooms. Okay, on the stove there's two different dishes. One is gonna be this I mean the cassava leaves in the other is a sticky, slimy, um like kind of a dish you gotta pull is how they're kind of explaining it to me.

So I'm not totally sure what it's how it will. We're going to find out what it is, but it includes braised beef which already has been like cooking down for many hours so it looks really tender and then she adds in a bunch of dried mushrooms to it. All right. the dried fish and the dried shrimp.

Now is this one for the cassava? Yeah okay. oh this is like chili powder. Oh yes. okay.

Oh and this one is for the the cassava. Leaf What is the cassava Leaf dish called uh uh stew sauce she had again starts with some of that beef, chili powder and salt. Yeah okay. the Palm nuts yeah which are boiled already I think and now she's gonna pound them.

Okay, cool those Palm nuts. They've been boiled already so the flesh is tender already um and then like. It amazes me just how quickly all of that fibrous material breaks apart. You can even start to get the aroma that nutty Aroma and also the oils starting to come out foreign.

You know that? Oh and all of that fresh squeezed goes directly. Oh nice. This is the cassava leaves they're gonna. They're gonna pound them too.

The fresh cassava leaves. Nice. Okay so once that all is pounded until like almost a a paste. it goes in so fine, like a grainy paste and it's so aromatic.

so green. Okay that Aroma of the freshly pounded cassava leaves, it's so green, so aromatic. There's another dish. this is spinach which has been very finely shaved and now it's going to be pounded as well.

Foreign. This is the cassava boiling. Okay so this is the the third dishes. It's going to be for the spinach pounded spinach sauce.

so that's also some of the braised beef. The chili goes in and salt onions go in. Oh yes, all of those Peppers go in those fresh Peppers starting to get so aromatic. Oh some more dried mushrooms go in here too.

Starts to just build in complexity with dried ingredients. The dried shrimp, the dried fish, the dried mushrooms all go in. That's going to create so much flavor. such a complexity.

And now this is getting started on the spinach sauce, palm oil. oh yes, okay. tapioca flour. And now they're getting started on some of the starches that are going to go with the meals.

Some of the foundations uh, two different types of cassava. One is a powdered cassava and the other they're boiling the cassava which they'll pound and then rice. So it's gonna be like three total meals that we're having. Oh oh that's like totally melted.

The leaves have just disintegrated into it. Now more beef goes in. Nice man, that takes some serious muscle strength and you can see the elasticity coming out of that cassava. It's getting so sticky.

thank you. There's leaves. Oh lots of meat juices. Oh another bowl of meat juice when she whipped that up that got really sticky.

Oh man. the meal just keeps growing and growing. making new. Oh new nuts.

and like seeds. Oh that one gets sticky as well. It kind of looks like a Tonka nut. I'm not totally sure what it is and that's a stock made with the dried mushrooms.

It keeps going on new recipes, new combinations. This one is really cool. This is the pounded seed of the African bush manga pounded up with some chili. Yeah, all those dried mushrooms.

Palm nuts with the cassava leaves? Yes thank you. Wow if you'll notice I changed my outfit in the culture here. This is for special occasions and it's like really cool. Um so we're gonna dig into this.

Feast So many different dishes, such a variety, so many different ingredients, and so much hard work that's gone into the food. Three different starches. Do we need? The plates? Okay, so we'll begin. Oh so this one is the this one.

All right. So we're beginning with the bush Mango sauce. You grab, grab some of the the dough. the cassava dough.

Okay. dip it into that oh so kind of mix it around. Oh, it's really sticky. Pull it.

grab it. Oh oh it's sticky. Yes. Okay, here we go.

Oh wow wow it's delicious. This is the one with the wild Bush mango seeds. It's just so sticky and creamy and spicy. Oh I'm dripping okay.

some of the beef. Oh I think this is maybe like some of the fish. There's dried shrimp in here. The flavor is so complex and then you really want to.

oh it's so sticky and gooey and then you want to like break it off. okay, um, the complexity of all those dried Seafoods in there. Okay going in for the next start. Actually I'm gonna go in for that.

Oh the gooeyness, the stickiness. okay oh my. Um I got one of those mushrooms I forgot. Also the base of the whole sausage is the mushroom.

Dry mushrooms. That's like so many different flavors. Okay, just pulls. this one is this is the spinach sauce.

okay oh this is that spinach. It was pounded for like an hour. Bring out all the flavors with the palm oil. Oh you kind of like mash it in your your palm.

Okay hmm oh yes. the flavor of that palm oil. Oh Chevon zi Oh and the nuttiness of those leaves. All the dried fish in there.

oh that's so good. Not so much flavor. The leaves. The palm oil.

well just munch it. Okay oh oh it's hot. that's it. Oh I think that's like a it might even be smoked.

It's a little bit like has a depth of flavor to it, a little bit chewy and fatty. Actually this beef is also kind of flavoring almost every dish with the broth. The meat juice is almost in every dish. The meat juice.

The dry mushroom juice. Wow that's delicious. Oh we're moving on to the next dish with all the seafood with the palm. uh juice.

Palm juice with all the dried seafood and the cassava. Oh yeah and then they pound it up because cassava leaves into a pulp and added to this as well. Okay so same all this dried fish and this one. This one is like similar to a palm nut stew but it's it's their own version with the maniac leaves.

Mmm yeah oh oh you'll see Oh she just keeps feeding me feeding me pieces of meat. It's the best. Oh yeah oh pieces of the dried fish you've got the flavor. Oh I'm actually okay.

Oh wow, that's a huge bite. Okay happy. Ridge Hmm yeah the nuttiness of that Palm nut juice and oil. It's so hearty, it's so filling.

it's so rich. Is it common? Is it acceptable to lick the fingers? Yes, Yes. A culture that it's totally acceptable? Okay, yeah. on to the meat.

More meat. Mmm oh yeah. oh yeah. I am dripping.

It is spicy too. All of those chilies that she added into it. Well everything is spectacular. Oh this is like a local brew filled with herbs that they make here.

Okay I'm going back in for the for the cassava and back into that the sauce. Yeah oh that. that gooey stickiness never gets old. It's so much fun to eat and you just kind of gotta Ravel it around or you need to have a partner to to break the break the stickiness.

Thank you! So good and so much fun to eat but definitely a unique texture you definitely need to appreciate. Kind of the the slimy I mean very slimy texture but the flavor is delicious. the spice. it's so unique.

those are cool. Such cool toys. Yes foreign. We woke up early this morning.

we are continuing our journey our food journey through Cote d'Ivoire Heading north we drove to the city of it's spelled M-a-n but you pronounce it Maul and this is a mountainous area. The drive is beautiful. The mountains are beautiful, and this particular city is very well known for their waterfall. So we're going to quickly stop by the waterfall and then we'll be continuing on.

We've got some really cool things planned today. Uh, something that I Can't wait to share with you the Jungle The trees are so beautiful and we're passing by. This is a natural bridge made of some type of a bark or Vines that's so cool that goes across the river so made it to the main waterfall the iconic waterfall and it depends Right now the water is not so much because of the the rainy season, so there's not that much water but sometimes it will be more full with all the water falling. But it is beautiful.

The shelves, the water. It's very calm and very peaceful. Okay and then right at the top of the waterfall there's some fresh fruit stands, some of the local fresh fruits. So we're gonna stop for a pineapple.

Ying Finds a new friend everywhere! Yeah, here we go. Fresh fresh pineapple that is unbelievably sweet and juicy. He could just squeeze it and like you get a cup of pineapple juice. Oh unbelievably juicy! Oh it's all good.

From here we're continuing North to Cuba and we've got a very special surprise coming. Thank you! Wow! that was a long drive. We are really off the beaten path in a village that was about an hour drive outside of Tuba on a dirt road. It rained for a while and it's hopefully now just kind of clearing up.

Uh, but we are in a village that is known for their stilt dances which is one of the most iconic dances traditional dances of Coduallo. Learn more about it and then we're also going to have a lunch here. The plan is that we'll get started on the cooking for lunch and then after that then we'll be able to. They'll be.

They'll be doing the traditional dance, the mask, the mask. All right, you'll see who it is. This is really an honor to be here. Yeah, you can already hear some of the chanting in the background.

Local rice you could see picking out the rocks. Yes, everyone's coming up. excellent. It's quite an amazing scene here.

The Village has just come together to cook lunch. A little discussion on how to cook, who's going to do. What? A little friendly, friendly conversation going on. A bunch of onions peeling and then that looks like some dried fish there as well.

Okay, foreign. wow, that is some power. Wow, that's amazing. Oh man, that's just incredible.

Three ladies pounding at the same time in perfect Rhythm Hello perfect Rhythm into a powder that dried Mania and now she's sifting that dried Maniac after it's pounded into a pure powder. This is one of the dishes we're eating. or this is the main soup that we're eating Okay so the rice is cooking and I guess the cassava they were. They just wanted to show us pounding the cassava.

it's not actually uh for the lunch. But in the meantime we're gonna go see the mask. and so Mo can you tell us really quickly a little bit about the ceremony and the dancing and the mask and the stilts? Yeah the still in this case. um the steel dancer is the mass is usually the the gatekeeper between the the physical world and the metaphysical world and that's usually how it happens with most in most of our cultures.

Our ancestors mean a lot to us and we need kind of like a a communicator between us and the and the and usually he sends messages between the two worlds. so he's someone that's very sacred and in our cultures in in most cultures in this country at least I can speak about. uh is that um if you have any grievances or any wishes you you send them through dance who are offering to the mask and then he also translates that to the to the ancestors who speak to him and in him in order to speak to to the to the living and the mask is picked based on his his value, his sincerity, his honesty, he's it's just not anybody that can be a mask in order to be a mass. In order for the mass to be able to translate those uh, those messages, you have four things that are necessary is the the max itself that is worrying the outfit, the spirit of the mask and the person wearing the mask and all that has all those four things have to be in line.

Okay so we're moving over to the central Courtyard of the village to see very traditional and also a sacred stilt dance. So we're just creating the chiefs of the bonjour in the village, the Elders of the village and then over here is where the masks are. Thank you! Wow! so it's fully started. the dancing, the drumming, the chanting, and then the The stilted Mask It goes around rhythmic dancing.

It's really fascinating thank you. Oh yes that is unbelievable. That was so impressive. I'm just blown away.

Yeah that was beautiful. Oh man. beautiful dances I've seen incredible. Also say that the mass is not known to the public.

Oh yeah, he has a secret identity so even his wife doesn't know that he's a mask. Oh okay okay she may not see him for he never reveals, never reveals, reveals who it is. That's that what? That's what makes it so mysterious and beautiful. You know because you are chosen and then no one's supposed to know.

It's kind of like a superhero system where like uh, someone goes and it turns into the outfit and it does all all the stuff that all the Deeds that he's supposed to do and then come back comes back. That was a once in a lifetime experience. Just absolutely breathtaking. Okay, the food Lunch is ready.

Try? No, no, no more. So here's the soup. We got the rice, we got the sauce and we're moving to go eat. That's the rice up there.

All of the community has gathered rice with sauce and then there's some meat on the side and they're just kind of like spreading out. This is a meal for the entire Community the entire Village here and it's so special to be here. the rice and sauce and then all the fried meat goes on. I think it's fried beef? all right.

So the the young men are over there with a big Basin I'm sitting here with the elders for the to break into the lunch. So to grab some of this, grab some of this meat and then with some of that rice and sauce. Mmm oh yeah, it's a simple, it's a humble meal but it's just such an honor. Such a privilege to be here.

And that sauce is a little bit spicy spicy and you can taste the onions in it. This is an incredible situation. Can you do that? Oh that meat. That meat is definitely a little bit like nap.

Very natural tasting. What an atmosphere though. The elders, the male Elders are over here. the young men over there, The women over here, and the kids all eating.

Kind of from a communal ball, yet all together as a community. this is something truly, truly impressive. truly. Well, it's such a privilege to be here.

The whole meal as we were eating I thought it was smoked lamb or smoked goat. turns out was not at all. It was called aguti which I think is uh I think it's like a rodent, right? A giant rodent. Yes it is I think it's called a grass cutter.

It's so tasty. always finds friends. That's how you say thank you. Are you in the local tribal language? Okay, thank you thank you thank you.

Foreign and this is in the Northern the Northwestern part of Cote D'ivoire We're actually very close to not that far away from Mali here and here's where we're gonna have dinner. All right here we go. entering into somebody's home, They've invited us over for dinner. Uh wow.

Oh cool. pureed banana already? Okay, then rice flour yeast goes in and this is the rice pudding. Yeah, there you go. Okay, so they'll just quickly make up the batter for those griddle cakes including the banana, including the rice starch including yeast.

and then she just mixes that up and rice like rice pudding. Almost foreign. Oh man. so we just walked in here to the courtyard and just greeted by the entire family they're cooking.

This is a a local kind of like a fried griddle cake donut. It's made out of rice, banana and sugar. That is a huge griddle though sizzling over fire. She adds in some oil, adds in the batter and waits till it fries.

Okay so I'm gonna try it right now I think I think everyone is waiting for me to taste it first because all the kids are waiting so we gotta try it. and I don't think the kids are allowed to to try it until I taste it so it is an honor. Oh they're like dense, a little bit oily smell, really good. Oh man oh it's so good.

it has this. The bananas are really sweet but also have a sourness to them. You've got the rice flour and also the rice pudding and then it's kind of fluffy because of the yeast used in it as well. That's delicious.

and Hearty and thick and slightly oily and crispy. I like how it's not that sweet. I think mainly the sweetness is coming from the banana itself so it's just like sweet from the banana. Um, crumbly, fluffy and crispy.

it's really good. That was the dinner with okra, okra and uh Eggman oh okay, we're not going to be able to see the cooking process, but they've already cooked it and the main dish is what's it called? Yeah, the ingredient that really makes the dish. what it is is locust bean powder, which is a thickening agent. So that's that's what we're having dinner.

for dinner. we're getting ready to eat and also try some of the donuts. So we've got the rice with the eggplant and the okra. and then we've got fish.

and then you get to control. Oh it's called fatty rice though. you said what's the translation the translation into English yeah is pretty much it's a fatty rice. So it's like it's a rice that when done has.

yeah it's very oily. It's very greasy. fatty rice. So we're sitting down for dinner.

This is a really special meal. Locust Bean rice. Yes, this is the main dish. the foundation.

ready for dinner. This? some of that onion. is that Tomatoes too? I Think it's Tomatoes yeah. Tomatoes and onions? Yes.

And then you put that in over your rice. Oh that's a small mountain of rice. You make a bowl out of it and then and squeeze it in your palm. squeeze it in your palm.

Oh oh yes. Oh delicious. What a dish. Oh I'm not totally sure if I like can pick out the flavor of the locust bean.

It's kind of like Blended within the rice. The rice is so fluffy. we've got the flavor. It's like infused with the flavor of the eggplant and then that tomatoey onion just melts in your mouth.

But you can actually see the beans. The beans. Oh okay, yeah, so it's a powder. It's a powder.

and and the whole beans. Just to give it the whole flavor and the smell, grab some more onions. grab more onions. Oh I'm gonna go for one of those.

Chili Peppers Get the chili. Get the chili in there, some of that fish, some of that fish, then make a ball, squeeze it in your, squeeze it in your palms, squeeze it in your palm. Oh the chili. Um, all that chili.

It bursts. It's fruity, It's spicy. What a dish. What a dish.

What a combination. Yes, that rice is delicious. Yes, the locust bean. Oh man.

And that sauce is just like onions have been disintegrated, the chilies have been infused, It's oily, It's spicy. It's so flavorful. I'm gonna grab another piece of the fish and then maybe some chilies. Here we go man.

Yes. Chili's in that onions? Yes, Oh yes. All right the fish. Yeah oh, you just grab like a handful of squeeze compressed foreign.

The eggplant just melts in your mouth, The onions melt in your mouth, literally melts in your mouth and just burns. It's so good. Okay, so I'm isolating some of these Locust beans and it kind of tastes to me like almost like mushroomy, mushroomy, or like a black bean Fermented almost has that kind of like yeah, like sometimes like a Cheesy flavor to it. It's called Nomi and I already tasted it fresh from the fire.

But that's actually there's another step that's typically done before you eat it. So Moe is going to show us how. Oh okay, yeah, that's like evaporated milk right? Yeah, okay. the cake.

I guess you split it into two, maybe even four. You leave that in. Ah okay, yeah. and you do maybe that two or three times to fill up your plate.

and then your next step now is you pour the powder milk. Oh okay, for it. Over it. Whoa.

Yeah. so this is how it's typically eaten. Yeah, that size typically 18. All right.

You grab a spoon all right and then you mix it in. Okay, yeah. Cheers Cheers Um well that takes on a whole different like texture and flavor absorbs all that evaporated milk. Oh so it's a cereal.

It's our version of cereal. Oh okay, but it's still crispy and gooey and puffy all at the same time. It is like almost like a like one of those desserts where where it's uh like a Tres Leches where it's where it's milk is coming out of it. Yeah, like it's juicy with the milk.

Oh that's excellent. Yeah Cheers! Mmm oh man. you just taste the sweetness of the banana as well. Oh what a way to wrap up this meal.

Yeah, that just shows the incredible diversity as we made our way up the west side of Cote D'ivoire The people, the food, the cultures, it's been remarkable. and I Want to say a huge thank you to my friend MO from Belkot DuBois who has such a passion for sharing about the cultures, the authenticity, the food and the people. and I'll have his information in the description box below but he does amazing tours and I also want to say that tomorrow we have a big day coming up. We're going to some of the local villages to do some cooking some unique local dishes that you're not going to want to miss.

So stay tuned for this entire Cote D'ivoire food series as we're traveling our way around eating our way through Cote D'ivoire and I want to say a big thank you for watching this video. Please remember to give it a thumbs up if you enjoyed it. Leave a comment below I'd Love to hear from you and if you're not already subscribed, make sure you subscribe now for lots more food and travel videos. Good night I'll see you on the next video.

Foreign.