Located in West Africa, Mali is a geographically and ethnically diverse country, comprising a part of the Sahara, the Sahel and the west African grasslands. It is, perhaps, most famous, as the home of the medieval Ghana, Mali and Songhai empires and the cultural richness of the legendary city of Timbuktu. Mali became rich through trade but also through the abundance of gold, and the 14th century Malian emperor Mansa Musa came to the world's attention when he showered richness to those he encountered while on his pilgrimage to Mecca.
Mali was also at the center of the trans-Saharan slave trade, and slave-taking intensified in the centuries after the fall of the Songhai empire, which coincided with the the discovery of the Americas and the hunger for human flesh to work the fields of the "new" continent. Slavery as an institution still persists in Mali, despite the efforts of modern reformers to abolish it. Former slaves and their descendants live in fear of being recaptured. The northern part of the country, in the Sahara desert, is inhabited by the Maures (Moors) and the Tuareg, a Berber people, who have historically exploited the Sahel Bella people as a slave caste.
Mali's cuisine falls within the West African tradition, and most of the dishes you will find in Mali are just as popular in neighboring countries. Meat with peanut sauce, known as maafe elsewhere, is the national dish. Grains such as millet and sorghum are fundamental to the diet of most settled populations, enjoyed with sauces made from okra and baobab leaves. Populations near the Niger river enjoy fish like the Nile perch.
West African cuisines I've explored so far: Beninoise, Bissau Guinean, Burkinabe, Cape Verdean, Gambian, Ghanian,Guinean, Ivorian, Liberian, Malian, Mauritanian
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