Overview of Culinary Preparations Sold in the Major Markets of Yaoundé – Cameroon

ABSTRACT

To characterize the street food sector in Yaoundé, an inventory of 197 culinary preparations available in its seven major markets was conducted. The main offerings included: boiled rice, wheat donuts, cassava sticks (Ebobolo), groundnut sauce, boiled plantains, corn donuts, fried beans, and fufu corn. The analysis of variances highlighted their variation in the markets, with the predominance of certain culinary dishes in one market relative to another. Two important aspects were looked into: geographical location and specialization in street food consumption. Then those markets were grouped into four homogeneous classes: [Essos, Acacia, and Mvog-Ada], [Etoudi and Nkolbisson], [Mokolo], and [Mvog-Mbi] markets. Markets belonging to the same class had high probability of having the same culinary preparations. Principal component analysis confirmed that Mvog-Ada and Acacia markets were the closest, as well as Nkolbisson and Etoudi markets. Yaoundé’s markets culinary preparations, despite their diversity, allow similarities between markets, disregarding their geographical location.

KEYWORDS:

• Cameroon
• culinary preparation
• food safety
• market
• Yaoundé

Acknowledgments

This study was carried out in the context of Public Investment Budget (PIB) funding, whose origin is the State of Cameroon.