Akara: The Bean Fritter That Crossed the Atlantic

Early morning in Lagos. At the corner of a busy street, a woman sits beside a wide pan of bubbling oil. With quick fingers, she scoops spoonfuls of a pale, frothy batter into the oil, where they puff up and turn golden. Customers are already waiting: a schoolchild, a bus driver, an office worker. They buy the hot fritters wrapped in paper, often with a soft bread roll or a bowl of maize porridge called ogi or pap. These are akara, bean fritters, and they are one of the most popular breakfasts in West Africa.

What is akara?

Akara is made from black-eyed peas (cowpeas) or other beans, which are soaked, skinned, ground into a smooth paste, whipped with onion, pepper and salt, and then deep-fried in oil, often palm oil or vegetable oil.

The secret is in the whipping: beating the paste for a long time traps air and gives akara its light, fluffy interior. Many cooks say that a good akara should be crisp outside and soft and airy inside.

Names across West Africa

Akara is known by different names across the region:

• Nigeria: akara in Yoruba, and widely across the country; in Hausa it is known as kosai.
• Ghana: koose (or kose), a popular breakfast eaten with koko (millet or maize porridge), especially in the north and in Hausa-speaking communities.
• Benin and Togo: versions are sold by street vendors under local names.
• Senegal: accra (or akara), often served as a snack.
• Sierra Leone: akara can refer to a sweet fritter made from rice flour and banana, different from the bean version.

The cowpea: an African crop

Unlike many staples of modern African cooking, such as maize, cassava and peanuts, which came from the Americas, the cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) is native to Africa. It was domesticated in West Africa thousands of years ago. It is nutritious, rich in protein and able to grow in dry conditions, and it has long been an important food for people across the Sahel and savannah. In Nigeria, cowpeas are also cooked as ewa (stewed beans) and as moin moin, a steamed bean pudding made from a similar batter.

Akara across the Atlantic: acarajé

During the transatlantic slave trade, millions of Africans were taken to the Americas, many from the Bight of Benin, the coast of present-day Nigeria, Benin and Togo, and especially Yoruba-speaking peoples. They carried their food traditions with them.

In Bahia, in north-eastern Brazil, akara became acarajé. The name is thought to come from the Yoruba words àkàrà (fritter) and jẹ (to eat), as in the street cry "àkàrà jẹ" ("come and eat akara"). Acarajé is made from black-eyed peas, fried in dendê (palm oil), split open and filled with vatapá (a paste of bread, shrimp, coconut and peanuts), caruru (okra stew), dried shrimp and hot pepper.

Acarajé is sold on the streets of Salvador by women known as baianas de acarajé, who wear white dresses, headwraps and beads, a style linked to the Afro-Brazilian religion of Candomblé. In Candomblé, acarajé is also an offering to the orisha Iansã (Oya), the goddess of wind and storms, showing how deeply Yoruba culture shaped Bahia. In 2005, Brazil registered the craft of the baianas de acarajé as part of its national intangible heritage.

Fritters like akara also appear in Caribbean cooking, such as accra in Trinidad and the French Caribbean, though some of these are made with salt fish rather than beans.

How to make akara

A simple method:

1. Soak black-eyed peas in water for a few hours.
2. Remove the skins by rubbing the beans between your hands and rinsing; the skins float away.
3. Blend the beans into a thick, smooth paste with a little water, onion and fresh pepper.
4. Whip the paste vigorously with a wooden spoon or whisk for several minutes, until light and fluffy. Add salt at the end.
5. Fry spoonfuls in hot oil until golden brown, turning once.

Serve hot, with bread, porridge or a spicy sauce.

A street food with a social life

Akara sellers, most of them women, are a familiar part of West African street life. Their small businesses provide income for families and a quick, affordable meal for workers and students. In Nigeria, akara and bread is a classic, cheap breakfast, sometimes eaten alongside other street foods such as the grilled, spiced meat described in our story on suya.

Why it matters

Akara is a humble fritter with a long history. Made from a crop native to Africa, it is enjoyed every day across West Africa, and it crossed the Atlantic with enslaved people to become acarajé, a symbol of Afro-Brazilian identity and faith. A single bite connects the street corners of Lagos with the beaches of Salvador.

Further reading

• Fran Osseo-Asare, Food Culture in Sub-Saharan Africa (Greenwood Press, 2005)
• Jessica B. Harris, High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America (Bloomsbury, 2011)
• IPHAN (Brazil's National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute) — Ofício das Baianas de Acarajé (registered 2005)