# 19 - Benin

A little sliver of land tucked in between Nigeria, Togo and Burkina Faso in West Africa, I had heard of Benin, but wouldn't have been able to find it on a map before yesterday. It is one of the most impoverished nations in Africa, yet also is one of the most politically stable (I guess you don't fight over what you don't have).

The food of Benin varies quite widely, based on whether you are close to the ocean in the south, or in the agricultural areas of the north. The one consistency we could find was that the people of Benin like their food flavourful and SPICY! No plain rice for these guys.

I have to admit that the process of making this meal was quite disgusting, so much so that I likely will never make it again. It involved putting a whole raw chicken, peanut butter and habanero pepper through the food processor. The smell of that combination is about as bad as you can imagine, but the outcome was surprisingly tasty. And while there was rice on the plate, it was coconut rice this time (sweet to balance the spiciness I guess?)

We also decided to tackle dessert this week as we had found a recipe for baked bananas. It called for ladyfingers (mini bananas) which seem to have a firmer consistency and not as much flavour as regular bananas. Despite the promise, this wasn't a great finale to the meal.

Off to Bhutan next week!