I'm in Cote D'ivoire West Africa and today we are going on a unseen local seafood tour. We're gonna eat some incredible rare Ivorian food and I'm going to share all with you coming up right now in this video. Hey everyone, it's Mark Wiens And if you're just joining me on this trip, we are in Cote D'ivoire which is also known as Ivory Coast in West Africa Traveling through the entire country to eat the best local food. Hello! Yesterday we went on an ultimate street food tour in Avijan, eating everything from placali to Vertical barbecue.

Today we'll be eating all! Seafood We're starting right here in Avi John for a local favorite before we continue our journey West Along the Atlantic coast, we'll travel deep into a local Village to try a rare Ivorian dish and then continue to San Pedro for a seafood Feast You don't want to miss hello? let's see. Oh that's a big fish. Got it? Foreign as we start to eat, but they've got just the factory going here. This is the type of place it's gonna get just jam-packed for lunch.

So many people. they fry up so much fish. The fish is fresh, it just gets a nice like very light coating of flour. Then it deep fries until it's crispy.

Oh okay. fresh batch of fish. Okay, what type of fish fish? What is the what is the type of fish? So so selfish? Okay, it is. Oh and this one is the saltfish.

Okay, oh nice. foreign. Okay, that's just fresh green chilies just chopped up. Oh man.

Chili's in a big way. and I mean we got here before the lunch rush and it's already starting to get busy. But this is where the the fish? uh after it's uh, deep fried, then this is where they distribute it. and I think you can come here and choose your own fish.

That's why they have kind of a caution tape here so that you don't get too close, can you? You can imagine how many people would want to be choosing their fish. Um, you can smell the aroma of onions, the chili sauce that it's going to be served with. Wow. Well there's that big fish fried.

Whoa. Whoa. This is made from made from cassava, but it's like a very complex process how they make it. Uh, they dry it, they grind it, they steam it and then it's put through.

this another process until it's uh, steamed and it becomes this almost like semolina kind of texture to it where you can feel the little greens of it and yet it's like light and fluffy all at the same time. But it's a staple of Ivorian food and it's one of the favorite foods in all of Cote Dubois Number two: Love that vibrant collection of onions and tomatoes on the fresh chilies. Yes yes, the green chilies. Okay, oh yes.

Start with this fish fried, crispy, breaded and normally normally so normally you will. Oh, you will just dip into the achake or will you dip into the you can dip with the Ajk Yes Oh yes she's going in. Oh oh wow Yeah Oh the onions just melt in your mouth. It has such a unique texture.

it's so fluffy and yet it's so Beady Like you feel the beads in your mouth. Um it's light. it's fluffy. It's kind of I mean it's actually very neutral tasting like semolina.

You're really good. It goes so great together with that fish. Try some of the sole fish. This is a special fish that they have for us for today as well.

You can kind of mix in with everything with the green chilies as well. Oh wow oh it's so tasty. Travel very good. I Love the combination of the fried crispy fish with the stewed down melt in your mouth onions with the freshness of the tomatoes and raw onions and those green chilies are just vibrant and full of flavor.

Dip into this sauce Tomato so crumbly that tomato sauce is nice too. It's really part oily onions in there and definitely Chili's as well. We're moving on to the next fish. Okay this is the next.

Oh this one is really soft and so crispy. Look it up, look at that crispy skin. My favorite combination is with those onions and with lots of these chilies and with a just mix it all around yes Is that the way to take a bite? Oh my God I think one other Secrets is that onion sauce that just mix that fish? Unbelievable! Every fish is different. Every fish has a different texture like this.

Burns There's this fish. It's crispy but then the Flesh of the fish is so silky smooth it just melts in your mouth. This one is oh okay, who know. Okay oh this one is thick, thick and Rich and hearty.

Okay, what a meal and from what? I've heard this is the best place in Abhijan to eat and fried fish too. Voila! I think that means it's very very good in the local ballet. Okay what a dish! what a combination. and they just fry fish here like out of control just non-stop fish frying.

And I think I mean the fish is actually fried completely plain just with that batter. What really gives you the flavor of those sauces and those onions? What a meal! I mean everything is so flavorful, so tasty. Thank you Good morning! Mo Good morning You ready? Yeah. Rainy day Today.

Any day. Today rainy day. But any day is a good day. Every day is a good day.

Any day is a good day to eat. All right. We started off this morning in Abidjan and then we drove along the coast to a place called Grand La which is it was about two hours away and there was just extreme torrential downpour rain to get here. it's sort of cleared, but it's still quite drizzly and it could The weather could turn at any time, but we're making the most of it from here.

we're getting onto a boat, we are going to a remote Village and the geography here is also very unique because there's a river, there's lagoons, and then we're also close to the mouth of the Atlantic where they are famous for an Ivorian delicacy that you can only get in the village. Oh, here we go. we're off. and if you look at this area on a map, uh, you will see that we're right along the Atlantic Ocean But there's a number of rivers and estuaries and lagoons that are surrounding the geography here.

and so we're heading off into some of the lagoons and some of the water. Outlets To this remote, Village is the second largest island in West Africa according to him. Oh wow, yeah, and what, what is the name of the village? So after about a 15-minute boat ride, we've made it. and I'm not so sure if it's a full island or if it's more of a peninsula, but it's really beautiful, really peaceful.

And then of course because we're on the Atlantic Ocean but surrounded by lagoons and rivers. that's why there's such a diversity where they're so known for seafood. Oh yeah, okay okay so just some of the Fresh Catch of the morning here, oysters, some other like um, shells or sea snails and then also some. a few small crabs in there as well.

What's on the menu that's on the menu. One of the things we'll be eating. Excellent! Okay okay welcome. We're just walking through the Village People are so friendly and it's really I Mean it's a really big Village over 5 000 people but it's like a nice grid uh surrounded by the Sea and lagoons and we're turning off onto this Lane to the house where we'll be cooking and eating.

um this is your his house Wow. Mercy Awesome! So we've been invited into the house the compound of our host here. and it's I mean we're on the beach. literally it's all sand but it's a beautiful spacious area.

We're heading right directly into the kitchen and to get started cooking a number of special dishes. some seafood Delicacies And there's this one dish that is so unique to this. Village It's only available here and here's the kitchen: Cassava salad. So in the kitchen there's a lot going on.

There's a fish grilling. it looks like a big mullet. They have cassava going which they're grilling and frying. But then one of the main dishes that we came here to eat a rare Ivorian delicacy from this Village is called.

Oh yeah and it's in this pot. It's like a fish stew that takes two days to cook. and so this is it. Here it's they've already been boiling it and I mean prepared it.

Since it takes two days it's already ready. But that is a true a unique delicacy. That stew it's made with African catfish and then there's other things going on. Now she's getting started on some of the local.

um Lagoon crabs. Oh nice. Okay, foreign. that's palm oil palm oil goes in.

So because this African catfish dish takes two days to make, they're just gonna show us in a small pot and so they've already prepared a big pot. they're just going to show us in a small pot, the ingredients that go in and the first initial stages of it in a smaller pot. So the African catfish goes in palm oil and onions and then that that boils. Now for Big Boys it drains the water and then they add on more water.

Okay, they keep on. Boiling Okay, for two days, two whole days, two days of boiling it. A lot of dedication. What a incredible, unique process.

Yeah, never heard of a fish dish cooking for two days with plantain. We're moving on Now to the Fufu which is this is going to be a Fufu made with a boiled plantain bananas and they're about to add in after she mashes it and she's about to add in some of the palm oil. Okay, drizzle of fragrant palm oil goes in. Okay, Oh, and she's really just delicately kind of mashing that.

Okay, Okay, so to make it softer Okay add in a little bit of that banana boiled juice. Yes, plantain boiled juice. Yes, a little bit. Oh man.

so that fufu recipe is so good. and they take I mean just such care in the way it looks and making it into a perfect ball and then smashing it down with two fingers and then drizzling a little more palm oil for the the presentation. she added a little bit of a paste to it which smells like it has garlic and onions and chilies in it. some of the some of the really hot peppers and then she kind of uh oh adds in a little bit more palm oil as well to the recipe.

I Love that air slicing technique. Also, the drizzle from a little bit of elevation. It's basically the two of the same things. The differences between them is the color that gets yellow because of the the pumps, the palm oil that is mixed in with this one.

All right. All right, and this is Cassava Sumula which is the also known as achiki. it's the National Treasure it's our trademark. one of our Staples of eggs.

Exactly foreign. First, take some of the achecky yeah and this is cassava like little I check it. almost like little beads of of cassava. Yeah, this is the main dish.

Been cooked for two days. you could just see it's melting I'm gonna take that and then take some of that that soup broth with the palm oil. Okay, so he said to you really should mash it in your just really and they're kind of like beads so you make a make a ball like that and then eat it with the with the with the fish. Oh oh that feels so good in your fingers.

It's so tender. Oh what a delicacy! Okay here we go. That skin. Oh you can feel how blubbery that that skin is as well.

Really thick. Oh yes. Oh and something that I said is that two days cooking it is the prime amount of time if you cook it. For lunch time it's not as soft and tender, but if you cook it for a longer time it started starts to like disintegrate and get mushy.

Two days is the ideal cooking time right now. look at that texture and amazingly it's not mushy at all. It's been simmered for two days and it just holds up. You can even kind of eat the bones.

The flavor, the the texture, the palm oil. Okay so again make a a ball, squeeze it. Oh and now it's getting juicy but something you can. you can actually feel the the skin of that catfish has just made it into a like it's thickened the sauce.

MO Is this something that you will find across other parts of Cote d'Ivoire Okay yeah this this one. This is only here right here. Yeah I'm gonna try some of the other version. This is the the one.

with palm oil in it already. Yeah, these are the ones we saw on the beach. The ocean snails simmer down. um onions.

You see a lot of onions in there Tomatoes Some spices Palm oil. This one. that's a big little nugget there of meat. All right, let's try this out.

Oh those sea snails are amazing. Yeah the texture is like a little bit rubbery and a little bit chewy but soft and tender. You taste all those caramelized simmer down onions that is so tasty. Oh the coconut.

washing it down with us coconut which came down from the tree just seconds ago. Oh that's refreshing. Oh it's so sweet. Oh yes that's the flavor.

It's awesome. Okay cool. thank you man. make it juicy okay and I'm gonna mix in.

yeah mix that in with some of those snails. Yeah the snails. oh man yeah and you got so much flavor. Um that's such a unique way to eat Kashaba because it has it's like little beads almost.

Um, it's very textural in your mouth and it's nice and like moist at the same time. and with that palm oil that gives it a boost of extra flavor as well. You remove that first, remove that the skin and the scales. Okay dragon I'm gonna go in for some of that that fresh fish and dip it into the sauce.

Yeah that includes the the chilies. Oh that sauce is unbelievable. Okay oh the fumes of the chili that Akiba Okay, it's a little bit. Is it a little bit sour? Yes, a little bit shower but like has this depth of flavor that's almost unexplainable.

Oh that sauce is incredible. Oh that's just. it goes so well together with the fish as well. Oh and this is what it is.

This is what the beer. They almost look like chickpeas. but they're not chickpeas. I don't it does look like a chickpea or a peanut.

Oh yeah oh it tastes like a peanut. like a like a hazelnut. almost. I gotta have another bite of that fish with that that sauce.

Um oh wow, that's Josh those nuts. Outstanding. I mean the whole meal is just superb. the the catfish do.

they normally eat it on special occasions when the fish is in season. that's when they cook it. Okay okay yeah hello. What's that mean sometimes? Okay, this is a fish that you that is cooked when you're hosting someone.

So because it's the because of the Rarity of the fish I Think you can measure your your affection for the for your for your guests so it's harder to get it so you went that much. In a way it translates to you going that much harder to please your guests. Wow! To give your best something rare and something unique. Wow Something! So this is a very special.

It's a very special very special meal. Yeah thank you. Next up for the crab. Oh you can see the the row in it as well.

All right, All right, let's try the the crab next. and maybe maybe I should pull this I'm going to show you how to. Okay, yeah, okay, you're gonna crack it open. all the real.

There we go. You can see the row in there. all right here we go scoop it out. Voila.

Oh yeah, all the row is where it's at. Yeah, oh yeah. Creamy and so much flavor. It's like the condensed, the ultimate condensed flavor of crab meat.

Yeah. and with those onions and tomatoes that have been stewed down with that paste. Delicious. Okay, as you keep on eating that catfish, I mean the the bones just get look at that skin, how thick it is, and how soft and tender it is.

That's why it's such a delicacy. Hmm. okay. I'm gonna take one of the pieces of the Fufu with the plantain.

Yeah, oh wow. that's dense with a little pool of palm oil in the center. Yeah and then the same. You can put this as another base starch to also eat along with.

Uh so he says it has to go in for more of the more of the catfish. Yeah, because it has sauce. Yeah yeah, oh that's a big chunk and maybe just pour on a little bit of that sauce. Okay, oh man, that's sticky and Hearty and like you can tell how dense it is.

this is the Ivorian. let's try this. Yeah, only sweet and starchy and you just infused with the palm oil. Oh that's hearty, nutritious, Delicious.

Look at this. This is a pure nugget of the catfish. Look how it just it just crumbles. It's so tender.

Yeah, the texture of it is so smooth and it is kind of dry. So that's why you've got to add a lot of soup, a lot of sauce to it um and then continually just keep rehydrating it, basting it with sauce to keep it hydrated. Okay, we got one more um thing to try and this is uh, fried cassava with there's a whole plate of mature coconut here. Yeah, you take a bite of the fried cassava and then I'll explain the the meaning of this dish in the culture here, right? It's really sticky, glutinous and crispy after something of the coconut, the richness of the coconut, the starchy gooeyness of the cassava, and the fried palm oil.

Again, the significance of this in the local culture in this Village is that many of the people are Fisher Fishers and so I mean it's a lot of work labor, they go out fishing, they'll come back and they'll be really hungry. So this is something that can be eaten like as a power snack. You'll be able to get energy, regain the calories. Um, it's filling.

hearty. I Think you have like fat and carbs? Um, and you can eat this really fast before a full meal is prepared. so that's the significance of it in the I've become tribe same thing fried or grilled. similar way to eat it.

What an outstanding meal. Meal was outstanding. The hospitality, the friendliness. uh what a what a village? What a location.

What a meal. But from here we need to take the boat back and we have a long journey to go because we're on our way down the coastline towards the West to a place called San Pedro. Oh welcome to San Pedro And this is the sixth largest city in Cote d'Ivoire It's also the second largest port and it's also very famous for fishing. So we're beginning right here at the Central Fish Market.

This is where the boats dock, where they arrive with the Fresh Catch and this is the wholesale where they have the full seafood supply straight from the boat and so we're meeting up with Chef Emmanuela. We're gonna do a little bit of shopping here, buy some seafood and then we'll go back to the hotel, her hotel where she's going to cook a seafood dish for us with Chef Emmanuela from Inn hotel hotel and she's going to take care of us today. She's saying that this is the seaport where they get the fish from the fishermen. All right, and directly from the boat.

Yeah, okay, yeah so then a lot of the fishing boats are still traditional wooden fishing boats. They probably also have some more modern fishing boats, but the majority are still traditional. Oh Bonjour, Bonjour? Yes yes. I Just love fish markets.

The colors: the Aromas of Fresh Fish seafood the sea water in the air and I just love the traditional boats, the colors, the the action and energy. A lot of the boats have gone in and Liberian Flags right? Yeah, yeah, they're actually from those countries, but they came here. they've been fishing. Oh okay, okay, so colorful traditionally I believe like in a lot of West Africa is that the men are usually the Fishers and then the women handle the the selling of the fish and distributing it to the markets.

Let me actually oh so we just saw the wholesale fish area. There's not too many big fish today, but a lot of a lot of soul. A lot of uh, mullets, some stingrays. We're gonna move over now to the wet market area where I think anyone can come to go shopping for their Seafood okay that one is huge yeah red grouper or Snapper hello.

okay okay oh wow. oh wow. Oh slipper. Lobster Yeah look at that red part so it looks like we'll be getting some octopus, some of that fresh octopus, some of the lobsters, local lobsters and those slipper lobsters which are really cool.

those they have like a they're totally brown in color and then they have this really bright yellow and red stripe in the center. All right. foreign dish where which is called the fisherman's soup comprise of vegetables, uh, fish and seafood. Okay, let's go paste.

A little bit of water splash and then a little bit of salt goes in. Fresh tomatoes go in okay, uh. green pepper, green pepper. Okay, oh wow.

So now whole half the onions go in okay and some of that. Chili Peppers Okay, so all the fresh seafood well actually starts with a base of fish and then some of that octopus goes in simmering in that tomato paste and now maybe a little more seasoning, salt and pepper goes in into a sauce. Okay, the shrimps. okay, the lobsters.

So that fish and seafood stew has to cook for about 15 minutes. In the meantime, we're gonna get started on the achake, which is one of the national dishes, the foundations of Ivorian. Cuisine Clay Pot which they're heating up now. foreign.

It's made from cassava in little beads. It's there's a process where it's dried, where it's uh, steamed. There's a whole process which we're going to see later on, but then one of the common ways to eat it is drizzled with palm oil, give it that orange color and then she just massages it in. Nice.

Okay, thank you Merci Chef Emmanuela for for preparing this and the dish is actually called means Fisher Uh, so it's actually the soup of the Fishers It includes kind of like all the different Seafoods that were freshly cut, made into a soup like a stew and like a lot of tomatoes, chilies and onions that go into the recipe and then all of the fresh seafood that we got from the market. So we're gonna. oh there's fish. There's Lobster There's the octopus and the shrimp in here and the slipper.

Lobster Oh, starting off with some of that, some with some of the fish and the traditional way will be to eat from these clay bowls together. very cost. Add some of that broth. Yeah yeah okay um.

the food. the Happy Fish Let's see the freshness of the seafood. the I love the texture of that cassava. It's like a little beads that are kind of moist and sticky all at the same time yet fluffy and dense.

And then you got the fish and you've got the tartness of the tomatoes and the onions in there. very good. Or do you want to chase with a little bit of that chili? Oh yeah, oh that's amazing flavor. Oh um okay, that's spicy.

It goes up your nose a little bit. okay. I'm gonna move into that. that slipper Lobster fully hydrate that I think I'm just gonna bite into it I'm trying to scoop that out.

Oh oh wow, that slipper Lobster Oh it's so sweet, so silky in texture. and whenever Seafood is cooked in a soup like this, it just keeps so juicy and like retains the I mean it just absorbs all of that broth. Awesome. Oh yeah, very good.

Oh so juicy. Oh slipper. Lobster So good. Oh slipper.

Lobster is excellent. Oh I'm gonna try some of these. these fresh shrimp. Is this a dish that's common all over? Yeah it's more more common in the southern part of the country because of the closeness to the to this to the ocean.

and then on the flip side on the northern part of the country you got you get more of a meat. it's more of a meat base. I'm gonna move into the other lobsters. These are like the the rock lobsters and I'll put this over onto the put it over onto the ache.

yeah scoop it out. Oh oh look at the Rope rehydrate it. Yeah, exactly okay. Maybe add a little bit a little bit of chili.

Yes I think we'll we'll do a Topper maybe I'll go with the green. yeah, the green one. the green one this bite. Hmm oh that's a mouthful of lobster and they're truly just pops in your mouth so bright and that one is citrusy.

Um, the muscular detector of the lobster. Oh yeah, that was a nice meal just sitting under the coconut trees. Cotiva is just such a beautiful country. The culture, the food, the varieties.

and I'll have the information in the description box below everywhere that we went I Want to say a big thank you to my friend MO from Belkot DuBois Who does Food Tours He does cultural tours and he's just a great guy to be with when you're here. so thank you very much for watching this video. We have a lot more to cover a lot more places, destinations traveling around Kotubua and a lot of delicious food coming up that you're not going to want to miss, so stay tuned. Remember to give this video 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. Thanks again for watching goodbye from San Pedro and I will see you on the next video. Foreign foreign.