Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso is an impoverished yet stable and friendly country in West Africa. Residents speak French, M├▓or├®, Mandinka, and Bambara. Theater in Burkina Faso is meant to enlighten rural people, and it has traditional performance elements with a post-colonial twist. The largest film festival in Africa, FESPACO, occurs biennially in Ouagadougou, the capital city. There is a lot for the visitor to see and experience. There is some great wildlife right in the city, along with places like the National Museum. Gorom-Gorom has an excellent women’s artisans’ market. There are great animal reserves near the Ghanaian border, or you can tour the Northern desert. North of Ouagadougou in the Land of Rest or Manega is a museum of mysterious, sacred objects, like unusual masks and rock carvings.

Burkinab├® cuisine features a lot of grains and legumes like sorghum, millet, rice, fonio, maize, peanuts, and beans. Vegetables include yams, potatoes, okra, zucchini, beets, pumpkins, cucumbers, cabbage, sorrel, and spinach. T├┤ is a stewlike dish made of crushed millet, sorghum or corn with tomatoes, peppers, carrots, a fermented seed condiment called sumbala, and perhaps some mutton or goat. There are many exotic beverages, including a baobab fruit drink called to├®do and zoomkoom, which is composed of millet flour, ginger, lemon juice, and tamarind. In Ouagadougou, you can find vegan cuisine, including versions of t├┤ and popular drinks.