By RFIPosted on 06-10-2019Modified on 06-10-2019 at 14:45

A Senegalese tandem won this week the 22nd edition of the contest "Cous Cous Fest", organized in Italy. Senegal ranks ahead of Tunisia, crowned last year.

In his yard and as every day, Aissatou Cisse, 60, seated on a small stool, activates in front of five huge bowls of couscous. Everything will have to disappear in the evening at the market. " It's the tradition, the ancestors prepared it for the evening meal, and it's good for the health too, " she says.

This week, a Senegalese chef from Dakar, Marème Cissé, and her son Falilou Diouf, who run a restaurant in Sicily, won the 22nd edition of the Cous Cous Fest competition organized in Italy. A consecration for the thiéré, couscous Senegalese-based millet or corn, which dethroned Tunisia, sacred last year.

Tradition

In his orange boubou, Aissatou Cissé is armed with patience. The millet seed is soaked, pounded, mixed with water, then steamed. It must then be sieved and add a powder made from baobab leaves. " When there is a wedding, we prepare it to serve dinner, " she explains.

This dish is consumed especially by the serer community, but also on the occasion of Tamkhrarit, the Muslim New Year. Then, to each one his sauce. Four pots are on fire, with beans, chicken or névadaye, moringa leaf sauce and popular recipe.

Only problem for Aissatou Cisse and his family: the price of corn imported from Canada, 300 CFA francs per kilogram, about 45 cents. But the tradition of thiéré is transmitted from generation to generation. She herself learned it from her grandparents. This know-how was revisited by the laureate of the couscous prize of the year with an octopus version on a mango bed.

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