Burkina Faso is located in west Africa and might as well be a world away from our last stop on our Tastily Touring journey. Burkina Fasa, formerly the Republic of Upper Volta, is a landlocked country surrounded by Mali, Niger, Benin,Togo, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire. Usually we don’t mention the capitals of each country we visit, but the name of Burkina’s capital is Ouagadougou, which we love to try to spell without looking at the correct spelling.

Burkina Faso is about 105,000 square miles, approximately the size of Colorado. This west African nation is tropical with warm, dry winters and hot, wet summers. Of the approximately 15,800, 000 people who reside in Burkina 40% are Mossi and the other 60% is a mix of Gurunsi, Senufo, Lobi, Bobo, Mande and Fulani. The official language is French, however over 90% of the population speaks a native Africa language belonging to the Sudanic family. Islam is the main religion with 60% of the population Muslim and 19% Catholic.

Hunter gathers originally populated Burkina as far back as between 14,000-5,000 BCE.
Burkina Faso was once composed of Mossi Kingdoms that eventually became a French protectorate in 1896. Under the rule of the French until its independence in 1960, the Republic of Upper Volta did not come by its current name until 1984 when President Thomas Sankara who named the country Burkina (“men of integrity” from the Moore language) Faso ( “fatherland” from teh Dioula language). Those that reside in this country are called Burkinabe.

Burkina Faso is a mutliethnic nation with almost 60 different ethnic groups. Each region of the country is dominated by different ethnic, cultural and political groups. Further dividing the Burkinabe people is language. While French is the official language and taught in schools, the many who do not attend school do not speak it. Instead there are as many as 60 languages spoken throughout the country.

Naturally, with such a wide variety of ethnicities and languages there is bound to be a wide variety of foods. And, while this is true, the staple foods for most of the country remain the same, even if the ways in which it is prepared or seasoned varies.

The staple is tô which is a paste prepared with millet or corn flour. This thick porridge is served with a variety of sauces. In some regions yams are grown and are a staple while in other regions milk is a staple in the diet. Meat is not a regular staple in the diet of the Burkinabe unless they are wealthy. And, in areas where there is more wealth rice and pasta are added to the diet. One delicacy that we will leave to the Burkinabe are caterpillars.

Take a nice virtual tour of Burkina Faso by clicking here.

Banfora (Celtnet)

Banfora is a region in Burkina Faso, but also the name of cakes that are very similar to Welsh Cakes.

Ingredients

• 500g self-raising flour
• 250g butter
• 200g sugar
• 100g diced pineapple
• 2 eggs, beaten
• a few tbsp milk
• pinch of salt

Directions

1. Sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl cut the butter into the mixture then rub with your fingers until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
2. Add the sugar and pineapple and then stir-in the beaten eggs.
3. Mix to a stiff dough and add a little milk if the mixture is too stiff.
4. Tip onto a floured surface and knead lightly before rolling out to 5mm thick.
5. Cut the dough into 6cm rounds then fry on a lightly-greased griddle pan over low heat until the cakes are lightly browned on both sides.
6. Cool on a wire rack and serve sprinkled with cinnamon and icing sugar.

Since I still do not use this measuring system. I used my scale, which weighs in grams as well as ounces, to measure out the ingredients. If you don’t have a scale with both, it is a good investment and not that expensive to purchase one that measurers in both systems.

The British Indian Ocean Territory is our next Tastily Touring stop. And, once again we are in a part of the world that is uninhabited. The BIOT also known as the Chagos Islands is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom that consists of six main island groups that comprise the Chagos Archipelago. There are about one thousand tiny islands with 23 total square miles. The largest island is home to a UK/US joint naval support facility. The remaining islands are uninhabited.

BIOT is located in the Indian Ocean between Africa and Indonesia. These islands were charted by Vasco da Gama in the early 1500’s and then claimed by France, becoming a possession of the Mauritius. Eventually agricultural workers (some of them slaves) were brought to the islands to work plantations. These workers were eventually known as Chagossians.

In 1810 the United Kingdome captured Mauritius and France gave over the territory in the Treaty of Paris. By the 1970’s the agricultural workers were relocated to Mauritius and Lawsuits were also filed by the islanders seeking the right to return to the territory, which was denied and by 2004, on the largest island of Diego Garcia the joint naval facility almost 4000 UK and US military and civilian personnel resided on the island.

Information regarding foods eaten by the Chagossians is not readily available so since the BIOT is a territory of the UK we decided to go with one of our favorites for breakfast or far an afternoon tea. Scones with jam are a perfect breakfast or snack choice. They are especially good with fresh, homemade strawberry jam as it is that time of year when strawberries are plentiful. Try them with a bit of clotted cream for a completely British experience.

Scones (Alton Brown)
Ingredients
2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup sugar
4 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons shortening
3/4 cup cream
1 egg
Handful dried currants, cranberries or raisins

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Mix well. Cut in butter and shortening. In a separate bowl, combine cream with beaten egg then add to dry ingredients. Stir in fruit.
3. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Roll dough out and cut into biscuit size rounds. Bake for 15 minutes or until brown

Clotted Cream (Alton Brown)
Ingredients
2 cups pasteurized (not ultra-pasteurized) cream

Directions

1. Set a coffee filter basket, lined with a filter, in a strainer, over a bowl.
2. Pour the cream almost to the top of the filter. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
3. The whey will sink to the bottom passing through the filter leaving a ring of clotted cream. Scrape this down with a rubber spatula and repeat every couple of hours until the mass reaches the consistency of soft cream cheese.

Make sure you use pasteurized cream NOT ultra-pasteurized. The recipe is not going to work if you use ultra-pasteurized. Also, there are other recipes that are more traditional and the cream is cooked in the oven at a very low temperature for a very long time. We like this recipe during warm weather so that we do not have to leave the oven on for longer than it takes to bake the scones.
Click here for directions on how to make strawberry jam.

Photography Data:
Featured Photographer
Daniel Gilbey
ApertureFNumber: f/5.0
Make: Canon
Model: Canon EOS 5D
ExposureTime: 1/15
FNumber: 5/1
ExposureProgram: 3
ISOSpeedRatings: 100
MeteringMode: 0
Flash: 16