West Africa · Street food
Fari (Deep-Fried Yeast-Raised Wheat Fritters)
Golden, airy Songhai fritters with a crisp crust and pillowy yeast-fermented crumb, fried at dawn in northern Mali.
The story
In the desert trading hubs of Gao and Timbuktu, Songhai street vendors wake before dawn to fry Fari in wide cast-iron cauldrons over roaring charcoal. Eaten universally as a fast morning meal alongside spiced ginger tea or millet porridge, they fuel early morning market traders and dockworkers along the Niger River. Unlike southern West African bean fritters, Fari relies on a wet, high-hydration wheat batter fermented until bubbly to develop a distinct lactic tang before hitting hot peanut oil.
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