Gabonese Cuisine

Gabonese cuisine is hearty, flavourful Central African food drawn from the country's abundant forests, rivers and coast, built on fish, meat, starchy staples and the rich flavours of the equatorial forest. Its signature dish is poulet nyembwe, chicken simmered in a rich, savoury sauce made from the pulp of palm nuts, regarded as a national dish. Fresh fish and seafood from the coast and rivers are abundant, grilled or in stews, alongside traditional forest ingredients, cassava, plantain and taro as starchy accompaniments, and an abundance of tropical fruit. Rich, earthy and satisfying, it reflects a land of forest and sea.

What you actually see

• Poulet nyembwe - the national chicken dish in palm-nut sauce.
• The fresh fish - the grilled and stewed coastal and river fish.
• Cassava and plantain - the starchy staples.
• The tropical produce - the abundant forest fruit and vegetables.

When to go

Year-round; markets and local eateries serve the national dishes, from poulet nyembwe to fresh grilled fish, and the coast is the place for abundant seafood. The rich palm-nut sauces and forest ingredients give Gabonese food its distinctive, earthy Central African character.

Honest expectations

Gabonese food is hearty, rich and starchy Central African cooking rather than a refined or internationally known cuisine, so its appeal is bold, earthy forest-and-river flavours and specialities like poulet nyembwe rather than culinary variety; note that traditional bushmeat, while part of the cuisine, raises serious conservation concerns and is best avoided. Enjoyed at a local eatery with nyembwe chicken or fresh grilled fish, though, Gabonese food is a satisfying and distinctive taste of equatorial Africa.

Nearby

Libreville's markets and eateries and the coastal towns are the places to eat.