Fufu

• Angola: funge, fúngi
• Benin: santana, foufou
• Cameroon: couscous, couscous de manioc
• Central African Republic: foufou
• Congo-Kinshasa and Congo-Brazzaville: fufú, moteke, luku
• Gabon: foufou
• Ghana: fufu, fufuo, sakɔro
• Guinea: foufou
• Haiti: tomtom
• Ivory Coast: foutou, foufou
• Liberia: fufu
• Mozambique: sadja, sadza, xima
• Nigeria: fufu, akpụ, ụtara, loi-loi, swallow
• Sierra Leone: foofoo
• Togo: foufou

Before the Portuguese traders introduced cassava to Africa from Brazil in the 16th century, fufu was mainly made from cocoyam, plantain and yams.[6] The traditional method of eating fufu is to pinch some of the fufu off in one's right hand fingers and form it into an easily ingested round ball. The ball is then dipped in the soup before being eaten.

Fufu made in Ghana

Pounding of fufu in Ghana

In Twi, fufu or fufuo means "mash or mix", a soft and doughy staple food. It is believed to originate in what is now modern-day Ghana,[8] by the Asante, the Akuapem, the Akyem, the Bono and the Fante people of the Akan ethnic group of Ghana and now generally accepted across the country. "Fufuo" also means "white" in Twi,[9] and is likely derived from the whitish colour of the cassava component in Ghanaian fufu. In Ghana, it is made out of pieces of boiled cassava and/or other tubers such as plantain or cocoyam. It is mostly pounded together in a locally made wooden mortar (woduro) using a wooden pestle[10] (woma). In between blows from the pestle, the mixture is turned by hand and water is gradually added till it becomes slurry, soft and sticky. The mixture is then formed into a rounded slab and served. With the invention of the fufu machine preparation has become much less labour-intensive. The resulting food is eaten with liquid soups (nkwan) such as light soup (nkrakra nkwan), abenkwan (palm nut soup), nkatenkwan (peanut butter soup), and abunubunu soup. Today, it also features in Beninese cuisine, Cameroonian cuisine, Guinean cuisine, Congolese cuisine, Nigerian cuisine,[11] and Togolese cuisine, where it is eaten with hot pepper soup, okra, or other kinds of stew. Fufu's prevalence in West African subregions have been noted in literature produced by authors from that area. It is mentioned in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, for example[12] Fufu was a major cuisine of the Ashanti Empire.[13] In Ghana, fufu, also known as fufuo, is white and sticky (if plantain is not mixed with the cassava when pounding).

In Caribbean nations with substantial populations of West African origin, such as Cuba, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Puerto Rico, plantains, cassava or yams are mashed with other ingredients. In Cuba, the dish retains its original African stem name, termed simply as fufú or with added descriptive extensions like fufú de plátano or fufú de plátano pintón.[21] On other major islands, fufú goes by the names of mangú in the Dominican Republic, mofongo and funche in Puerto Rico. What distinguishes the Caribbean "fufú" from its West African relative is a firmer texture with stronger flavors. As it moves away from Cuba, the fufú's core is less a gelatinous dough and more of a consistent mass.[22]

In Haiti it is called tonm tonm and Foofoo. It is mostly made of breadfruit but can be made of plantain or yams and is usually served with an okra based stew or soup. It is primarily consumed in the southernmost regions of Haiti namely the Grand'Anse and Sud departments. The city of Jérémie is regarded as the tonmtonm capital of Haiti.

Puerto Rican mofongo, in keeping with the creolized cuisine traditions of the Caribbean, tends toward a fufú of much higher density and robust seasoning. While keeping a conspicuous African character, mofongo has borrowed from the island's Iberian culinary tradition, to create a dish made of fried green and yellow plantains, cassava or breadfruit. Unlike the mushier Caribbean and West African fufús, mofongo is generally firmer and crustier. To prepare mofongo, green plantains are deep-fried once unlike twice fried tostones. Next, they are mashed in a 'pilon' (mortar) with chopped garlic, salt, black pepper and olive oil. The resulting mash is then pressed and rounded into a hollowed crusty orb. Meat, traditionally chicharrón, is then stuffed into the chunky ball of fried green plantains. A few recipes call for a meat or vegetable salsa criolla" (related to American Creole sauce) poured on top of the hot sphere. In the trendier "mofongo relleno", typical of western Puerto Rico, seafood is all over, inside and outside. Traditional mofongo, as previously cited, comes seasoned and stuffed with meat and bathed in a chicken broth soup.[23] Because of its elaborate process of preparation and its sundry ingredients, poet and blogger Arose N Daghetto called the mofongo a type of "fufú paella" and branded it as "the big daddy of fufús".[24] Although mofongo is associated with being fried, boiled and roasting plantain mofongo predate fried mofongo and is still excited but a rare find in Puerto Rico. A dish called funche made with taro, green and yellow plantains boiled and mashed with butter, garlic, and pork fat was once popular in Puerto Rico. Once mashed it was formed into balls and eaten with broth made from sesame seeds. Funche is written in early Puerto Rican cookbooks around the 1800s, but can probably be traced back to African slaves on the island. Funche today in Puerto Rico is cornmeal cooked in coconut milk and milk.

The vegetable or fufú sauce in the Anglo-Caribbean is not fried first. Plantain is not used as much, as it is used in so many dishes. Fufu is usually part of, or added to, a soupy sauce or on the side with a soupy dish. In Antigua, fufu is served as part of the national dish but is called fungi/fungee and is made using cornmeal and okra. Similarly, in Barbados it serves as part of the national dish and is called cou-cou and uses cornmeal or, less commonly, breadfruit instead, like several other English Caribbean islands.

Nutritionally, 100 g dry weight fufu contains 2 g of protein, 0.1 g of fat and 84 g of carbohydrates. There are 267 kcal of food energy in a 100 g serving made up with water.[25] It is very low in cholesterol and very rich in potassium, and it is commonly prescribed by doctors for people who have a low level of potassium in their blood.[26]

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  A family eating fufu
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  A plate of fufu (right) accompanied by peanut soup
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  Fufu (left) and palm nut soup (right)
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  Fufu
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  Nigerian food: fufu being sold on the street in Lagos
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  Wrapped fufu
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  Preparing fufu in Togo
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  Wooden pestle and mortar for pounding fufu
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  Fufu machine used by a food vendor
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  Pounded fufu
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  Fufu from Ghana
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  Ghanaian fufu with light soup, goat meat, and smoked fish
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  Fufu and light soup in asanka

• "Ghana's cooks take to fast fufu". BBC News. 2006-05-29. Retrieved August 5, 2008. Microwavable instant fufu.