I'm in very Northwestern Cote d'Ivoire in West Africa And today we are visiting some extremely remote villages to taste some of the lesser-known foods. Oh that chili is the real deal! Hey everyone hope you're having an amazing day! It's Mark Wiens I'm in Cote D'ivoire also known as Ivory Coast And if you're just joining me on this journey, we are traveling all the way around the country eating some of the most unique and delicious Local Foods So tasty and they put everything. Once it's cooked, they put it here on the roof keeps hot in the sun. Yesterday we made our way up the west side of the country.

We had some incredible food, we saw the remarkable once in a lifetime stilt dances and then we had a feast in Ojine for dinner. Oh yeah, today we are in the very remote and really unexplored extreme North Western corner of the country and we're visiting two Villages today to eat some extremely unique dishes, some of the Specialties of the region. You're not going to want to miss any of it. Thank you! I haven't seen in over 30 years since I was well I was a young guy so today we are in San Jose my father's Village and uh that's north of Virginia where we're gonna have some Village food.

We're starting in San Jose and then the next stop will be Uh Kotula which is my mother's Village Good to be back home tomorrow. Yeah Wow! this is incredible! This is the welcome welcome song and dance to just walk across to the Village. It's so special. Wow, what a celebration entrance that was That was extraordinary.

And they're pounding some of the Locust means with that yellow pulp, pounding off that yellow pulp to get to the beans, the seeds on the inside. I Think the little village is coming here. Thank you! Wow! More dancers have arrived. I Don't think they get a lot of visitors in this area so this is something that they hold of such high regard and high respect.

The way they treat visitors. the hospitality is remarkable. this is. this is an overdose of senses.

So much going on. Fascinating. So they could like sing. They might sing all day.

Yeah, they can sing for me. they're singing all day because you're you're like you've been gone for so long. Yeah Well yeah, the last I think my mother told me that the last time you came here was like when I was like two or three. Wow, yeah, so it's been a while.

All right. All right. Yeah yeah man, yeah, welcome. What a welcome.

You are welcome. What a culture! We're stepping into this hunt here to get started cooking. There's some fish, it looks like tilapia but one of the main things they're making is local guinea fowl which is fresh. I think the entire Community has gathered.

What a welcome! They're gonna start removing the feathers with hot water. thank you. So she's making this like porridge over here with perfect beads. Okay, here's the guinea fowl outside.

They're just burning off the the feather tips now. Man, this is about as authentic and as real as you can get. It's so special. Such an honor to be here and for a lot of the kids.

For a lot of the people in this area I Mean they don't get visitors very often. especially visitors that are filming like this. And so it's really, uh, um, something that they're they're curious about. And that's why there's so many kids.

their curiosity. They're just beautiful. So when she has those perfect little pellets, everything is even sized. then she drops them into hot boiling water to boil.

Oh, so this is all going to go into the porridge. Limes Tamarind. Oh yeah, okay. the lime juice goes in okay.

Tamarind goes in. thank you. The weather is heating up, the sun is intense here. Um, but the guinea fowl goes on and she's chopping up some Tomatoes some eggplants and some onions to go in it.

Oh, she puts everything in whole without slicing them actually. Oh, you can help him out in the kitchen. The fish is fried gumbo. Okay, that's uh.

okra and eggplant in there. Okay, what is that? That's it? Oh, it just made into a paste or something. a little bit of salt. This is another form and shape of the locust bean.

I Think it's been already pounded into a paste and in these little little logs she adds in dried salt and dried fish goes in and pounding that down. That's going to be for the phonio. and that's the main Foundation the starch that we're going to be eating for lunch along with uh, the guinea fowl. And now she has this vegetable stock that comes from the boiled okra and eggplant and she's getting ready to eat it.

Add the phonio green into that vegetable stock. Yeah and they put everything. Once it's cooked, they put it here on the roof. keeps hot in the Sun Oh What A Move Mashing up that okra, you can see all of the the gooiness coming out of it and the seeds.

So this is the locust bean and that that dried fish goes into the the phonio. okay pound it into a powder. Foreign. Oh and that gumbo is the okra.

It goes into the the Millet. Oh and you can smell the aroma of the the locust bean and that dried fish in there as well. folds it in with that that okra paste that smells so good and we were doing a little bit more research. Fonio is a type of local Millet that comes.

It's a little green from grass and so that's one of the the Staples in this region that's so aromatic and the way they've cooked it down with so many ingredients to create that Aroma and that fragrance and flavor and nutrition as well. So from the chicken they they take out all of the whole onions and uh, tomatoes and the garlic and the chilies and then she mashes that up into a paste and I think they're gonna re-add that back into the guinea fowl. Okay, foreign, okay and so that needs to boil for another 10 minutes I think and then we're gonna be ready to eat. Oh so first of all, Mercy to Mariam for preparing this incredible meal.

and the guinea fowl is still cooking, it's still boiling because she said it's quite tough. it needs to boil for a long time. In the meantime, we're gonna get started on that porridge with the the little pellets with Tamarind and with sugar in here and lime juice as well and you eat it with this like a scooper. a Dipper Okay um and so this would typically be a breakfast though.

Yes, a breakfast dish. Yes, oh man, that's really good. It's just lightly sweet, but it has the nice sourness of The Tamarind and the lime juice and it's thick. It's starchy, really hearty.

I like that like combination of mostly sour and a little bit sweet. Um oh man, that's just so easy to eat and so warming and comforting and thick. So somebody they had to go get it from the house. but typically you'd eat this with a gourd.

Yes! so now the gourd has come. Okay, now this is the best way to eat it. Yeah, oh that's the way. Oh there's nothing more satisfying than eating from a giant Gordon spoon.

Oh and then the eggplants go on top. Okay so this is the one with okra. Oh and the pilipili. Oh yes.

Oh wow. The whole fish. So we're gonna begin with the Phonio and this is the special fonio that she mixed it in the gumbo which is the the okra with the eggplant with chilies and served with the fish on the side. She said like grab a bite first and then you start to mix in with the eggplant and you kind of squeeze it.

The squeeze technique. oh that works great. Um oh yes that's so crumbly. mmm and I think the okra is kind of holding it together otherwise it'd be even like drier.

But the flavor. oh you taste that? The locust bean yes that has like a little bit of a fermented soybean almost flavor to it. almost a little bit of a Cheesy flavor to it. And then the dried fish also adds that kind of depth of flavor as well.

You can mix in with the eggplant. oh that's fried to a absolute crispiness with some of that mashed Mash in with that eggplant squeeze. Delicious. That extra depth of like texture from the eggplant which is so creamy.

um the crispiness of the fish. The Lucas Bean that's what's like powering the whole flavor. This is so unique, so good. I'm gonna go for another bite of that extremely crispy fish this time.

I'm gonna bite that chili. Oh yeah, oh, that is spicy. Extremely spicy. All that chili is the real deal.

Remote local Chili Pepper Okay, we're moving on to the guineafowl and you can kind of like squeeze a bite, squeeze, and then dip it into that. I'll kind of mix it in with that gravy you want it to be a little bit soupy. I Think that's hot? Oh yes, oh that's delicious. It's spicy.

It's tomatoey. the onion puree, all of the seasonings were boiled and then pounded to make that sauce. Oh man, yes that is tasty and it really like absorbs into the phonio. I'm gonna go in for the guinea fowl now.

Yeah, that is so tasty. Oh, it's tender, but it has this bounciness to it. Um, like. it's definitely.

if it wasn't cooked for a long time, it would definitely be rubbery because this is natural. This is free running around. Um, but that since it's been cooked for so long, it's tender, but it still kind of bounces back. But the flavor.

oh that's so rich and dark. succulent. That is a really natural tasting bird. almost like a whale like pigeon is so dark and yet it's so natural tasting.

Well, that's more of those chilies. This is so good. Yeah, thank you, thank you for coming. Thank you for appreciating.

Oh thank you very much. Extreme. Hospitality What a welcome! What a What a incredibly special meal. The village is like where are they? Well, because they have that Village Had so much plan too.

Fonio is great. Yeah! Phone your country. This is country Yeah! I Love it here. Mm-hmm Merci Beaucoup Merciful.

Oh, that was a an incredibly special meal. So unique. The ingredients, the locust bean and the hospitality. The friendliness that was superb.

Thank you Mo and his family for hosting us from here. We're moving on to the next. Village Oh let's see. Oh thank you Yeah! Okay So we've arrived to Moe's mother's Village greeted with some cold water.

oh that's so refreshing and we're just greeting his family. What's the name of this? Village Yeah yeah and look at all these Puffs they have ready for you. Wow! we're gonna do some beauty beautiful things. that's gonna be a lot of food.

Wow! look at all the okra, all the chilies. Okay yes man they're so amazing how they keep the Rhythm and then switch even. Yeah, Whoa! and they can clap too! Oh that's incredible. Just the way they're able to keep the Rhythm and even clap as they pound s mule for dinner tonight.

It's going to be based on corn, so they've got the kernels according, which they're just. they're smashing it into a powder as we're cooking some entertainment for the drummers. The drummers have just arrived. Again, this is just extremely an honor.

A privilege to be here. I Think the entire Village has come out. There's just so many people here now. the kitchen is over here.

Um, some of the men are sitting behind here and some of the elders are sitting under that covering over there water. What a spectacular experience! So all of that chopped okra and look at how many chilies have gone in there. That is impressive. It's like half ocher, half chilies.

So cool to see the entire Community come together for this meal where everyone is going to eat. That was the the corn flour that they pounded into like a very fine powder. She mixes it into water almost looks like milky and then pours it into hot water and immediately starts to thicken. Thank you! That looks like palm oil.

I Think just extremely impressive. Everything takes a team effort. It's like dried fish. I think yes and everyone's dancing too.

dancing while cooking. Oh I think these are looks like Black Eyed Peas Yes. So another dish that they're going to be making is they have some bush meat. It's a wild rabbit which has been smoked and they're gonna make it with peanuts.

They do a peanut stew going out of jail you know to have been roasted and then they peel the skins foreign roasted fresh logo. so the peanuts are pounded the same way until they're I Mean it turns into peanut butter. The oils come out and then that goes directly. She adds water and then it goes directly into the peanut stew and that goes in.

Oh that's gonna be so good Man for the peanuts too. It's one of my favorite dishes. She boils some palm oil, onions, tomatoes, chilies go in and then they freshly roasted the peanuts and then they're pounding them. Um until it becomes the oils come out because until it becomes a peanut butter and then that goes in.

That was the most thrilling. Yeah man, that was awesome. One of the most beautiful dances I've ever seen. Thrilling.

This is thrilling. Yes. Oh skills. This is the cassava.

The cassava dough which is ready now. five dances later, back to the okra and she's hand blending it into a sauce and okra sauce. Foreign. They're serving everything out.

It's time for the feast. This is one of the the greatest cultural celebrations of food, culture, dance people that I have ever seen. Oh man. dinner is served and I've been dressed in the local clothing for the feast.

All the food is laid out. This is a celebration of a meal. so we're sitting down. Check out the audience we have for this meal.

Oh and a huge thank you to Moe's mother and the entire Community for coming together for this unbelievable celebration! Okay, let's start with the first dish. Okay so this one is the pounded corn. Okay oh it's so smooth. all right and this is a Baobab Leaf stew.

Oh it's so smooth yes and the flavor of that smoked fish. and then it's sticky. I think from the bad leaf powder that makes it sticky and has this green Aroma to it. Oh we go for that smoked fish.

Okay this is a awesome catfish. Oh that's a whole head Yeah let's move on to the okra. So this is the same. This is the pounded corn.

Yes I'm gonna grab a grab a bite as well. Oh this one is like kind of firm yes, almost like jelly and then you kind of make it into a kind of conform it. Yeah and then you dip it into the the gumbo. This one is the the okra stew with lots of chilies in there.

Yeah oh okay so oh that's so warm. Oh oh wow that one is good. Oh that is so tasty. The texture of the okra like gooey sliminess.

the Chili's in there. the onions, oh it's delicious. and I love that corn. It just like goes down so easily.

it's very smooth. yeah some of that smoked smoked fish as well. Yes oh oh and the chili and the chili. Pima Yes oh oh it feels so good in the fingers.

Oh that's wonderful. but they're smoked fish. Let's try the next dish. sweet potato.

Oh and this is the Wild Rabbit with the onion sauce. Yes, okay, awesome. Okay, I'll just taste that onion, the onion tomato mixture. First, those onions melt in your mouth.

Oh, they're so tender. the flavor of that palm oil, the smokiness of the meat. and I love it with that sweet potato too. The sweet potatoes will just melt in your mouth.

Now you're gonna taste okay. let's move into that rabbit. Oh yeah. okay, thank you.

The smokiness of it. Yeah, it's a little bit like hard and chewy, almost like a jerky. but as you chew, the flavor keeps on coming out. The smokiness.

oh that's natural. Oh, that's really good. and that's giving the entire stew so much flavor as well. on that smokiness and you washed it down with this.

Okay, yeah, so this is the old-fashioned water. Yeah, water served in a gourd the traditional way. Yes, okay hahaha oh man, because it's they're all laughing at me because I spilled it all over my mouth. Oh, that takes.

that. Takes some practice though because it's because it's you have to know when to how hard to turn it. Yeah, oh, that's the most satisfying drink of water ever. So this is the same stew with the Wild Rabbit but served instead with Black Eyed peas.

Yes, All right. So we go in again. Yes, mm-hmm I Love that version. The the fibrousness of those beans are so creamy, they've been cooked down until they're just gonna melt well with some more of that rabbit.

It was smoked. that's why the it's kind of hard. Yeah yeah, the rabbit is awesome. Yes! and I love it with those beans.

Those black eyed peas are delicious. Simple but delicious. And that onion sauce. just again, it just melts in your mouth.

Okay, so the next dish. this is the futu. This is made from the yams, right? The yams which were boiled yes, then pounded and then you eat that together with the peanut stew so thickened. There's so much peanuts in here.

Oh wow, yeah, that's one of the best dishes right there. Yeah, so thick from the peanuts, it's spicy, the onions, the tomatoes in there, and the nuttiness of the palm oil as well. So thick, so rich. Oh and then you taste the fresh roast of those peanuts which I roasted like over the fire giving them such a intense Smoky flavor.

Yeah dude, see that thing? Okay yeah and grab the chili. Yeah, the chili. Oh man yeah, oh yellow. These chilies are dangerous.

Yeah, oh yeah, those chilies are. They're the real deal. Spicy but so much flavor in them as well. They will warm you up.

that's without a doubt. grab a little piece of that rabbit. There we go. Oh wow, that's one of the best dishes.

It's so good. Put that in there. Oh, they're gonna pour them more palm oil on okay chili powder. goes on to the cassava.

It's another way to eat cassava. If we'll go for some of the the cassava next. this is the Cassava palm oil. Oh man, it's just simple good.

The real flavor of the palm oil, the thick starchiness of the cassava. oh sure, yeah sure oh man. Which is quite a scene now. everyone joining in for the meal.

That sweet potato is incredible. He's one of the best sweet potatoes I've ever had with that onion palm oil sauce is delicious. Now everybody wants to show their their eating skills. Yes! Mercy Mercy We've wrapped up today.

That was one of the most thrilling and educational just cultural food celebrations that I've ever had in my life. It was so much going on. Truly a special memory that I will never forget. I Want to say a huge thank you to my friend MO from Belco Dubois for arranging everything we went to his parents Villages I'll have his Link in the description box below and also remember to check out all the videos in this series where we are traveling around eating the best food and the most unique dishes in Cote d'Ivoire So thanks again for watching.

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