Gozo

The cassava fufu of the Central African forest, retted root pounded to a smooth elastic dough in a tall wooden mortar and torn by hand to scoop up sauce

Origin: Bangui and the Ubangi Basin, Central African Republic

From the journey of Cassava.

Gozo is what the Central African Republic eats, at very nearly every meal, and it is the northern Congo basin's version of a food that runs from Cameroon to Angola under a dozen names. Retted cassava root is pounded with hot water in a tall wooden mortar until it becomes a smooth, dense, faintly elastic dough, turned out as a mound, and torn off in pieces with the right hand to scoop up whatever sauce sits beside it. The retting is what distinguishes the Central African method from the West African one. Where Nigeria and Ghana grate the root and ferment the mash in sacks, the forest belt soaks whole peeled roots in a river or a pit for three to five days until they soften and sour, which detoxifies and ferments them at once. The flour milled from those dried roots carries a distinct tang that a West African garri does not have. It is never eaten alone. The standard partners are kanda ti nyma, meatballs in a spinach and groundnut sauce, and saka-madesu, cassava leaves stewed with beans, and between them they show the Central African habit of eating the root and the leaf of the same plant at one sitting: the root supplies the bulk, the leaf the protein the root does not have. The technique is worth respecting. Gozo is judged on smoothness and on the pull, and a lumpy or slack one is a visible failure at a table where the dish appears daily.

Ingredients

Dough

  • 500 g cassava flour (fufu flour, or farine de manioc)
  • 1.2 litres water

Seasoning

  • 0.5 tsp fine salt, optional

Method

  1. Whisk 150 g of the cassava flour into 400 ml of the cold water until completely smooth.
  2. Bring the remaining 800 ml of water to a rolling boil in a heavy pan with the salt if using.
  3. Pour in the slurry, whisking, and let it return to the boil. It will thicken into a glossy paste within two or three minutes.
  4. Now add the remaining dry flour in small handfuls over a low heat, beating hard with a stout wooden spoon after each addition until it is fully absorbed before the next goes in.
  5. Keep beating and folding the mass against the side of the pan over a low heat for a further ten minutes.
  6. It is ready when it is smooth and glossy, pulls away from the pan in one mass, and holds its shape on the spoon.
  7. Wet a bowl, press the dough into it, and invert onto a plate to give the traditional dome. Serve hot with a groundnut or cassava leaf sauce.

Notes

Cassava flour is sold by African grocers as fufu flour, farine de manioc, or cassava flour. It is the whole dried root, milled. Do not use tapioca starch. It turns instantly into an inedible elastic glue. Many households blend cassava flour with a proportion of plantain or maize flour, which gives a softer dough and a paler colour. Angolan funge, Congolese fufu, and Nigerian lafun are all closely comparable and made the same way.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

Mapping Culinary History

To explore — select an ingredient below.

Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route
Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control
© 2026 The Gastrographer. All original research, narratives, and illustrations. All rights reserved.