As famous as Dakar fast cars or baobab, thieboudiène (also spelled ceebu jën and often called “thiep”) is to Senegal what “pasta is to Italy and sushi to Japan,” according to Senegalese chef Omar Ngom: an emblem! A daily dish as well as major events – the difference mainly lies in the quality of the products – thiéboudiène is a staple of Senegalese cuisine.
Like that of Astou Diop: “At the beginning of our marriage, we had to negotiate, otherwise we would have eaten thiep every day, Bachir loves this dish so much! », jokes this resident of Saint-Louis, in the north of the country, seated in front of… a thiéboudiène.
It was in this city, capital of French West Africa (AOF) between 1895 and 1902, that the birth certificate of this dish was signed in the 19th century, around the legend of Penda Mbaye. The hairdresser, who also cooked in the market, “would have had the idea of ??mixing cherry tomatoes with onions, giving the thiep this beautiful red color”, reports Fatima Fall Niang, director of the Center for Research and Documentation of Senegal. (CRDS) in Saint-Louis. Although its existence has never been confirmed, the name “ceebu jën Penda Mbaye” still persists today to designate the original dish.
“A complete and rich dish”
“Thiep Saint-Louisien is red rice, colored by tomatoes, fish, and it’s a dish that gives pride of place to vegetables, because we are at the mouth of the Senegal River, a region where market gardening is practiced. It is completed with suweer (also called diaga), i.e. fish balls, often bluefin tuna or sardinella, to which some add shrimp. Besides, we also make a tamarind sauce. It’s a complete and rich dish, “explains Marie-Caroline Camara, Saint-Louisienne by her father and manager of the Au Fil du Fleuve guest house in this city.
Rice, broken up, and fish, stuffed with a mixture of garlic, parsley and green onion, are the essential ingredients of the dish. But, from one region and one ethnic group to another, the recipes differ significantly. “The Lebou [a fishing community, majority on the Dakar peninsula] have added yet and guedj, dried fish and shellfish,” says Astou Diop, who adds with a smile: “There is a holy orthodoxy Louisiana which does not accept modifications. »
All the ingredients are cooked in the same pot, added gradually according to the cooking time of each, so that the dish simmers to release the different flavors for about three hours. This know-how is transmitted from mother to daughter, but for the past ten years men have been using it during events such as religious festivals.
Fruit of interbreeding
“Rice with fish” (literal translation of the dish’s name) has a strong social value. Shared around a bowl, it calls for conviviality and the transmission of values ??dear to the country of teranga (“hospitality” in Wolof). “In the past, it also allowed for education: an elderly person gave the children portions of vegetables, fish and equalized the amount of rice so that everyone was on the same level. We also taught how to behave well, “explains Fatima Fall Niang, co-author with Alpha Amadou Sy of the book Le Ceebu Jën, a Senegalese heritage.
Having become a national dish, thiéboudiène is the fruit of a crossbreeding and the result of colonial history. Imported from the colonies of Indochina, before it was grown locally, rice replaced millet or baobab fruit that previously accompanied fish. “The thiep has always been international: you can find the four continents with vegetables from Europe, rice from Asia, onions from the United States and fish from Senegal, the only truly local ingredient,” she explains. . The communities have thus appropriated this recipe to the point of imposing it as an “authentic Senegalese gastronomic heritage”.
It is to anchor this heritage, and get ahead of Nigeria and Ghana, which coveted the paternity of what they call jollof rice, that an application was submitted in 2020 to Unesco. “There was a strong commitment from the community of Saint-Louis: fishermen, researchers, elected officials, etc. The enthusiasm was considerable, ”recalls the director of the CRDS, responsible for coordinating the file. This dish, which is the pride of the Senegalese, was inscribed on the list of intangible cultural heritage in December 2021.
The recipe, ambassador of Senegalese cuisine, can act, according to Fatima Niang Fall, as an agent of gastronomic diplomacy to promote the country, but also the city of Saint-Louis. “We must not stop at the consumption of thiep as something cultural, it must serve all sectors: economy, health and tourism,” she defends.
Can’t revisit it?
With this in mind, a culinary creation and design residency called Waañ Wi (“the kitchen”), supported by the Villa Saint-Louis Ndar, the French Embassy and the Chefs in Africa network, was held from 13 to March 19 in Saint-Louis. Orchestrated by Table Pana, a structure organizing private dinners in Dakar, it had set itself the goal of highlighting local products cooked by three international chefs.
“The chefs of the African diaspora are on the rise: we are discovering another gastronomy, a mix between products from the continent, such as millet, fonio, and codes of Western cuisine”, says Senda Waguena, a Togolese chef who has put thiéboudiène on the menu of his Parisian restaurant, Jujube. The Senegalese Omar Ngom is delighted to see this dish now establishing itself in restaurants, including gourmet ones, and imprinting its mark on the world.
For these two chefs, it is impossible to revisit it. “We cannot touch this monument of our heritage”, affirms, categorically, Omar Ngom. For her part, Julie Basset, private chef and French culinary designer also taking part in the residency, is well pleased to be offered a broken down version of the dish, to which she could add small personal touches.
The fact remains that, if the waters of Senegal are among the richest in fish in the world, overfishing greatly reduces its fish resources, causing a rise in prices. “The thiof [“grouper”] has become a luxury,” sighs Bachir Diop. Fishmeal and fish oil factories also participate in the phenomenon: by massively buying sardinella to manufacture products for fish farming, they deprive households of this highly consumed and inexpensive fish. Beyond thiéboudiene, it is above all food security that is threatened, fish being the main source of protein for the Senegalese.