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Tanguy with the roast chicken
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As my own name alliterates, I immediately spotted Tanguy Tanga as a great name. Tanguy (pronounced the French way; Tahn-ghee) is a colleague from Gabon, a biologist who has worked following chimps and gorillas in the forest, and is now getting familiar with laboratory techniques in Berlin. He is very positive and normally up for doing fun stuff, so it was not too difficult to convince him to host a Gabonese meal. The original guest list was for four, but in a typical move, it has expanded to about ten after Tanguy was invited over to friends the day before and he invited them to join as well. Thankfully, he had basically done shopping and prepared enough food for about ten people anyway. So when I arrive, there is an impressive display of dishes on the kitchen table, and more in the oven. In total, I count ten different dishes, hence my decision to call this meal a buffet, rather than focus on a specific dish in the title.
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All the dishes for the buffet prepped and ready to go
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As I have lived in West Africa for a total of four years (in Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast), I do recognize a lot of the staples served (despite Gabon being a Central African country). There is boiled cassava root, boiled green plantain, fried ripe plantain, cassava leaf sauce with salted fish, aubergine sauce, fried fish, roasted chicken, french fries and a home-made cake for dessert. The main surprise is the atanga fruit. I initially mistake them for boiled dark skinned potatoes, thinking they look almost identical. Tanguy's German friend Til feels they look exactly like kidneys!
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The atanga fruits; look like potatoes!
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When you bite into them, you quickly encounter a big stone, so clearly it is neither a potato or a kidney. It is hard to describe the texture, a bit like an avocado, and the taste is quite tart and savoury. As a biologist, Tanguy can tell me the Latin name, Dacryodes edulis. Apparently the English name is African pear, though I've never heard of it! In Nigeria, this fruit is historically one of the primary food items that villages survive on during the “hungry season,” (the time in between harvests and plantings). I am amazed that Tanguy managed to find it for sale in Berlin. There are quite a few shops I have visited that have African food items for sale, but their selection of fruits and vegetables are normally a bit limited. The cassava leaf used in the sauce can be found relatively easily though, prechopped in frozen sachets. It is truly a staple in West and Central African cuisine, but it is a known issue that it is hard to accurately determine the salt level while it is cooking...it is quite easy to oversalt it. When this happens, people will joke that the cook must have been in love (and thus distracted) while seasoning the sauce!
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Boiled cassava to left, plantain to right
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Tanguy did learn to cook for himself back in Gabon, as he was away from his parents when he was sent to continue his education at a lycée (secondary school). He continued to profit from these skills at university, and would enjoy cooking for friends.
I am lucky to have snagged a host from Gabon, as it is quite a tiny country, with just over two million inhabitants. I had mainly heard of it because of its beautiful forests and national parks. It is one of the richest countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, partially due to having lots of oil, and mangenese. However, the benefits of these resources are not spread evenly, so you will still have quite a few poor people as well as some who are very well off. Tanguy specifically highlights that things are relatively expensive in Gabon, so even for people who earn a reasonable salary as a government functionary, it can be hard to afford things.
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Crisp fried fish
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He was able to compare this when he went to Cameroon, where they have the same currency (the Central African CFA franc). Still, most families in his city (Moanda, known for its manganese mines) will have a tv with Canal+ and a freezer or fridge. That is for instance a higher standard of living than I have seen in Ivory Coast or Sierra Leone. The so-called HDI (Human Development Index), is also one of the
highest. On the other hand, some of the stories Tanguy tells me do sound familiar, such as it being difficult to get a job as a government functionary without paying a significant contribution first to someone higher up in the organisation.
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Explaining the components to friend from Brasil
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Of all the dishes, the aubergine sauce is the most praised by the guests (a varied bunch from Germany, Switzerland, Brazil and Burkina Faso). This sauce has a lovely silky consistency and a rich flavour. It is made with the smaller, rounder whitish aubergines rather than the well known dark purple elongated ones. Very good on rice too. After all the guests are stuffed, we end up watching some video clips from Gabonese musicians, including the internationally known
Shan'L (pronounced Chanel) and
Patience Dabany. The latter is more of classic artist, and was also the wife of Gabon's second president
Omar Bongo, who holds a record as longest ruling leader (1967-2009). Not altogether surprisingly, Gabon's third president,
Ali Bongo, is one of his ("30+") children, son of the the aforementioned Patience Dabany. More surprisingly, Ali Bongo is one of the few presidents who has put out a
funk album (in 1977). It's not bad actually, very funky. Though Tanguy prefers
Lord Ekomy Ndong, a socially conscious artist who has been critical of the highly contested elections in Gabon.
We finish the meal with the tasty marble cake that Tanguy baked. He admits that it is not actually a Gabonese dish, he just wanted to make a nice dessert and found the recipe online. We are seriously impressed when it turns out to be the very first cake he has ever baked!
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Dish with atanga, manioc, plantain, aubergine and cassava leaf sauces, chicken, fish and french fries!
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