Beignets, beans and bouillie: the trio that brings all of Cameroon together

Some dishes are kept for big occasions. And then there is the one you eat standing by the roadside, at 7 in the morning or at nightfall, and that nobody ever had to explain to you: beignets and beans, with or without bouillie. BHB, to those who know.

Three simple things, one meal

• The beignets: a risen dough, fried in small balls in a big basin of oil. Golden outside, soft inside. On the English-speaking side, they are puff-puff.
• The beans: simmered for a long time, then lifted with oil and seasoning. They are what fills you up.
• The bouillie: a hot, sweet porridge, most often made from maize, also called pap. You drink it as much as you eat it.

And pepper, for those who dare.

The beignetariat, an institution

The place where it all happens has a name you will not find in the dictionary: the beignetariat. A bench, a pot, a basin of oil, and someone who knows the habits of the whole neighbourhood. You meet the pupil in uniform, the bike-taxi rider, the civil servant in a hurry and the student at the end of the month. Few places mix so many people.

It is also one of the most affordable meals in the country: for a few hundred francs, you leave full. That is probably why BHB crosses regions, languages and the last days before payday.

Where do you find them?

Everywhere, and that is exactly the problem: most beignetariats have no sign, no phone number and no page online. No map really knows them. NiceThings has spotted about twenty so far, more than half of them in Garoua. Almost nothing, in other words.

Help us put them on the map

Do you have a favourite beignetariat? The one at the junction, the one across from the school, the one where the bouillie is always hot? Add it to NiceThings in two minutes: its name, or the one the neighbourhood gives it, where it is, and a photo if you can. The next person looking for an early breakfast in your neighbourhood will thank you.

Because the good places are not only restaurants with a terrace and a menu. They are also the street corners where all of Cameroon meets around a plate.

Photos: Sid Mbog (opening photo) and Daya237, under CC BY-SA 4.0; Dieph Carlos, CC0. Via Wikimedia Commons.