Central Africa · Breakfast
Gari (Toasted Fermented Cassava Flakes with Roasted Peanuts)
Crisp toasted fermented cassava granules soaked in icy spring water and crowned with freshly parched red peanuts and raw cane sugar.
The story
Across the agricultural communities and roadside kiosks of the Central African Republic, soaking gari represents the quintessential morning sustenance and field-worker energizer. Derived from grating, fermenting, pressing, and dry-roasting cassava mash, gari offers an instantaneous meal requiring zero morning fire. Connoisseurs in Bangui insist on pairing golden, medium-grained gari with deeply toasted red-skin peanuts to counterbalance the sour tang of lactic fermentation with rich, oily crunch.
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