Best African Foods
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Garantita is a popular Algerian street food item that is consumed as a snack and prepared as a kind of cake or tart. The dough is made with a combination of chickpea flour, oil, spices, and water. It is then covered with a beaten egg and baked in the oven until it develops a golden-brown color on top.
Garantita is typically served hot, dressed with harissa and cumin. It is believed that the name of this street snack is derived from the Spanish caliantetorta.
Beyaynetu is a colorful Ethiopian assorted dishes platter that is traditionally arranged on top of injera flatbread. It is essentially a sampler plate that has meat and vegetables (or just vegetables, when it's called yetsom beyaynetu), and the choice of small dishes depends on the restaurant serving the dish.
In most cases, bayenetu includes meat stews, shiro, puréed red lentils in berbere sauce, yellow peas, spiced collard greens, cabbage, carrots, and potatoes in a flavorful sauce. It is recommended to pair the dish with tej – Ethiopian wine made from fermented honey.
Marinated and spit-roasted, shawarma is a delicious Middle Eastern meat treat whose origins can be traced back to the Ottoman Empire era, while its name stems from the Arabic pronunciation of the Turkish word çevirme (lit. to turn; turning), and refers to the rotating skewer on which the meat is cooked.
Shawarmas are made with either lamb, turkey, chicken, beef, or a mix of different meats which are slow-cooked for hours and basted in their own juices and fat, gaining an incomparable succulence, but the real secret to a perfect shawarma is in the marinade.
OTHER VARIATIONS OF Kebab
MOST ICONIC Shawarma
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Makroud el louse are flourless Algerian cookies consisting of almonds, eggs, sugar, and a flavoring of orange flower water. Baked until lightly browned, these cookies are typically tossed in powdered sugar in order to be completely coated. Once consumed, makroud el louse should melt in the mouth.
It is recommended to serve these cookies with a cup of tea or coffee on the side.
Sfinz is a traditional fried pastry made with a dough consisting of flour, sugar, yeast, salt, and water. The dough is shaped into small balls which are then flattened to form a thin layer of pastry. After it has been fried, sfinz is typically enjoyed with honey, although it can also be fried with an egg on top.
Also known as Libyan doughnut, this fried pastry is especially popular for breaking the fast during Ramadan, but it can also be served for breakfast. If there is any leftover dough, Libyans usually transform it into herb bread.
Rfissa is a traditional dish of stewed chicken pieces, onions, and lentils served over shredded msemmen, old bread, or trid pastry. The full list of ingredients is as follows: chicken, onions, saffron, ginger, lentils, msemmen, fenugreek seeds, and ras el hanout.
The dish is traditionally served on the third day after the birth of a child or for similar festive occasions. It's typically consumed by a group of people gathering around the large dish, and each person then eats from his side of the platter.
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Kunāfah consists of two crunchy layers of shredded and buttered kataifi or knefe dough, filled with a luscious cheese cream that's often flavored with orange zest and cardamom, then drenched in a sugar syrup infused with lemon juice and orange blossom water.
Turkish künefe is traditionally made with Hatay, Urfa, or Antep cheese. It is usually topped with pistachios and is best served warm. Elegant and amazingly simple to make, this dessert is nothing short of what cheese-filled pastry dreams are made of.
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Maakouda are traditional potato fritters that are popular throughout the Maghreb, especially in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. The fritters are usually prepared plain, but they can also be stuffed with meat, tuna, or cheese, although not that often.
They're made with potatoes, parsley, garlic, flour, salt, and pepper. The potatoes are boiled, mashed, and mixed with other ingredients into small disks which are then deep-fried in hot oil until golden brown. Maakouda is traditionally served as an appetizer, a side dish, or an ingredient in a long sandwich roll that's usually sold as street food and served with harissa, coriander, and lemon juice.
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Mahjouba is a traditional flatbread that is one of the most popular street food items in the country. These thick and flaky crepe-like flatbreads are made with semolina, then filled with a combination of tomatoes and caramelized onions. Mahjouba is often paired with harissa sauce on the side, but the condiment is completely optional.
Mechouia is a Tunisian salad made with grilled, coarsely chopped onions, peppers, tomatoes, and garlic, drizzled with olive oil and seasoned with caraway, salt, and black pepper. The salad is then typically garnished with hard-boiled eggs, olives, or tuna.
The salad can be served on its own, but it is also often served on toasted bread or baguette slices. It is quite common to find it in Tunisia as a part of a mix of appetizers in traditional restaurants.
MOST ICONIC Mechouia Salad
TasteAtlas food rankings are based on the ratings of the TasteAtlas audience, with a series of mechanisms that recognize real users and that ignore bot, nationalist or local patriotic ratings, and give additional value to the ratings of users that the system recognizes as knowledgeable. For the “Top 100 African Foods” list until February 16, 2025, 28,294 ratings were recorded, of which 9,049 were recognized by the system as legitimate. TasteAtlas Rankings should not be seen as the final global conclusion about food. Their purpose is to promote excellent local foods, instill pride in traditional dishes, and arouse curiosity about dishes you haven’t tried.