🇨🇲 The cattle breeds of Cameroon

Cameroonian cooking draws on Bantu, Bamileke, Bamoun, Bamenda and Shuwa Arab communities and on German, French and British rule, and cattle enter it chiefly as food: beef in street kebabs called soya, cow skin known as kanda and beef tripe in soups such as eru and achu. No breeds, herds or herding life are described; cattle play a small part in the country's food story as told here.

• Soya, a popular grilled kebab, is made with chicken, beef or goat.
• Eru soup is cooked with cow skin, called kanda, or with beef.
• Achu's yellow soup may be served with beef, cow skin or tripe.
• Achu is a staple of the Tikar and Ngemba peoples of the Northwest and West.
• Kwacoco with mbanga palm nut soup is a Bakweri dish of the Southwest region.

Cattle in Cameroon

Cameroon lies where North, West and Central Africa meet, and its food draws on Bantu, Bamileke, Bamoun, Bamenda and Shuwa Arab communities, with German, French and British colonial rule leaving traces too. Cattle keep a low profile in this story of cooking: they appear mainly as meat. Beef fills the street kebabs called soya, while cow skin, sold as kanda, and beef tripe give body to soups such as eru and achu. Nothing in this account describes herds, breeds, grazing or the daily work of keeping cattle, so a reader wanting Cameroon's cattle keeping itself will need to look elsewhere.

Regions and communities

Beef shows up in dishes tied to particular peoples. Achu, pounded cocoyam and unripe banana eaten with yellow soup, is a staple of the Tikar and Ngemba in the Northwest and West regions, where soil and climate suit the cocoyams it needs, and it often leads the table at cultural events and celebrations. Eru with water fufu comes from the Manyu of the Southwest, while the neighbouring Bakweri steam grated cocoyam in banana leaves as kwacoco, served with mbanga palm nut soup.

Milk, butter and beef

Cattle reach the Cameroonian table mostly as meat and offal. Soya, grilled skewers sold along the streets, can be made from beef as well as chicken or goat. Eru, a soup of shredded eru leaves cooked with waterleaf or spinach, palm oil and crayfish, takes cow skin, known locally as kanda, or beef. Achu's yellow soup, turned yellow by potash called niki, is commonly served with boiled, fried or smoked beef, cow skin or tripe. Goat meat appears in dishes like kondreh too.