Something Fishy

Yaya with LunchWhen you get to Mali be prepared to eat fish.  In particular, be prepared to eat "capitan", a white fish endemic to the Niger River (hence, its English name of Niger Perch).  The Niger bisects northern and southern Mali as it runs acoss the country from Guinea on the southeastern border to Niger on the western border.  Its waters are plied daily by Bozo fishermen to extract life-giving sustenance.

Capitan is tasty no matter how it's prepared.  And they've learned how to prepare it in a variety of ways: boiled, stewed, smoked, fried, dried and, in my case the favorite, grilled.  

The first place I encountered Capitan was at Le Santoro restaurant, a tourist-oriented restaurant and cultural center founded not accidentally by a former cultural minister of Mali.  Le Santoro is located off of Koulikoro Road in Bamako.

Comments

[Kristin]

We also had Yaya as our tour guide. He was (is) absolutely wonderful and really made our trip to Mali unforgettable. Capitan fish = very tasty! Amazing to find your photo here!