Talk:The Gambia

Description of cuisine

Should the opening of the section on cuisine (The Gambia#Cuisine) say something like:

The Gambia doesn't actually have its own cuisine, the food that is to be found there stems mostly from neighbouring Senegal, whose cuisine is French-influenced.

or

The cuisine of the Gambia is heavily influenced by the culinary traditions of neighbouring Senegal, reflecting a mix of local ingredients and historical influences, including French colonial cuisine.

There's been a difference of opinion in recent edits. Please discuss here to resolve this issue. Thank you. SchreiberBike | ⌨  03:04, 16 November 2024 (UTC)

I´m from there and I know for a fact that the Gambia does not have its own cuisine. Its Senegalese cuisine they are preparing. Pendere1 (talk) 14:30, 16 November 2024 (UTC)

I'm not from the Gambia or Senegal and it's possible I've never eaten food from those places, but I think I know what it means for a country to have a cuisine. The food of the Gambia is Gambian cuisine. I have no idea if the food in the Gambia is different from Senegalese food, but it is the food in the Gambia, and hence its cuisine. I don't think we could say that there is any country, any culture, or any family, which "doesn't actually have its own cuisine". SchreiberBike | ⌨  03:22, 17 November 2024 (UTC)

Exactly, you're not from there, we from those countries know what it's like there. By food of Gambia do you mean yassa? If so it's not Gambian but Senegalese, domoda? Also Senegalese. The Gambia doesn't have any dishes, Senegalese cuisine is prepared there, yassa, for example, is prepared in the Gambia, Mauritania, Guinea, even Ivory Coast and many other countries, so it can't be Gambian cuisine, otherwise you could have said it's Ivorian cuisine as well, because Senegalese cuisine is also prepared there. You are confusing being neighbouring and the respective country's own cuisine. The Gambia and Senegal are neighbours but the cuisine is Senegalese. Yassa, for example, is from Casamance, a town in Senegal, it's not Gambian, Domoda is from Tambacounda, also a town in Senegal. Pendere1 (talk) 07:42, 17 November 2024 (UTC)

@Pendere1, you mean The Gambia doesn't have any dishes? Remember the Gambia is inside Senegal, all the ethnic groups in the Gambia are in Senegal. And all of them have their different dishes unique to them, Domoda is for Mandinkas, Benechin for Wollofs, Chere for Serers. It is a matter of where Benechin or Domoda originated in Senegambia that can be discuss because the Gambia and Senegal were divided by the Colonials. So to say The Gambia doesn't have any dishes is definitely incorrect. Gayobah13 (talk) 11:12, 24 February 2025 (UTC)

I can't say the latter version is perfect, but it's miles better than the former. It's obviously inappropriate for us to claim—without any sources, especially—that a country has no cuisine of its own. It would be better to have no cuisine section than to make such a claim. Firefangledfeathers (talk / contribs) 03:56, 17 November 2024 (UTC)

I´m sorry but saying the latter version is perfect is intellectual dishonesty. You simply cannot attribute the dishes of another country to the Gambia just because you want to be its cuisine. I´m from there therefore I should know, so we will either keep the version I wrote, or the cuisine section will be deleted as you suggest. The dishes that are supposed to be Gambian are not, they are Senegalese. Pendere1 (talk) 07:43, 17 November 2024 (UTC)

To be clear, I'm not saying the latter version is perfect! I do prefer the status quo ante over total removal. It seems you're the only proponent of your version, and I think it's very unlikely that I'll change my mind on it. If there were multiple high-quality sources saying explicitly "there is no Gambian cuisine", I suppose I'd reconsider. Otherwise, I don't have much to add. Please don't revert back to your version unless it's clear that others support it. Firefangledfeathers (talk / contribs) 18:26, 17 November 2024 (UTC)

The others have admitted that they don't know but I do. Yassa and Domoda are Senegalese dishes so it would be more than appropriate to put them on the Senegal page than Gambia because it doesn't belong here. Also refrain from telling me what I may or may not edit, just because you moderate this site does not mean you are abusing those rights. If you and the others claim things about a country that are completely false then that will be corrected. I´m from there and know what I´m talking about, why would you forbid me to write about something I know about at the expense of you, who know nothing. Pendere1 (talk) 02:08, 23 November 2024 (UTC)

Unless you can go through every single dish prepared in the Gambia and provide reliable sources that they were all invented in Senegal, we cannot say that Gambia does not have it's own cuisine. Whatever you personally believe about your country's cuisine is irrelevant. Sources matter.

Also, people in The Gambia were eating something before the Brits and French drew the border in the 1890s. These dishes are older even than the concept of "The Gambia" and "Senegal". Trying to draw an imaginary boundary and saying this dish belongs on this side of the artificial border and that dish belongs on the other side is arbitrary and pointless.

Finally, you say domoda is a Senegalese dish. Which domoda are you talking about? Domoda in the Gambia is mafe. But the first time I tried ordering domoda in Senegal, I got a tomato-based dish that in the Gambia was called farinio. Once you produce a source for the exact place of invention for every dish prepared in the Gambia today, maybe we can clarify the question. But until you can do that, we will have a wikipedia page about the cuisine of Gambia. Or, to make everyone's lives easier, we could have a Senegambian cuisine page, but that's a discussion for another day. Catjacket (talk) 08:09, 16 February 2026 (UTC)

The cuisine of Gambia is the food cooked there now. It will be shared across borders and cultures, as all cuisines are. CMD (talk) 14:12, 17 November 2024 (UTC)

I said the same yassa is prepared in many countries outside of Senegal, these are Senegalese dishes not Gambian. If yassa is Gambian for the sole reason of being prepared there so it yassa the food of Ivory Coast, Mali and so on because it is prepared there as well and of course its not. Stop deflecting. Pendere1 (talk) 15:06, 17 November 2024 (UTC)

@Pendere1: Perhaps you have a different understanding of the meaning of the word cuisine than I do. There is nothing about a cuisine which says it can't originate in or share things with other countries. It does mean that there is something unique about that place, so every place has a unique cuisine, even if it is made up of dishes from other places.

There is no doubt in my mind that you know more about Gambian food than I, but I think you are misunderstanding what it means to say that a place "doesn't actually have its own cuisine". Thank you, SchreiberBike | ⌨  02:46, 23 November 2024 (UTC)

I think it is incorrect to say Gambia doesn't actually have its own cuisine. Gambian cuisine is distinct and deeply rooted in the country's history, culture, and agricultural practices. While it shares similarities with Senegalese cuisine due to historical and regional connections, Gambian dishes have unique preparations, ingredients, and cultural significance. Gambian cuisine reflects influences from local ethnic groups such as the Mandinka, Wolof, Fula, and Jola. Each ethnic group have their own unique food. For example Domoda is Mandinka word and is Mandinka food in the Gambia. Gayobah13 (talk) 10:58, 24 February 2025 (UTC)

It is historically incorrect to claim that Gambia doesn't have it's own cuisine. I find it interesting that some still do not appreciate the historical, cultural, and geographical nuances between The Gambia and Senegal. These modern countries are colonial inventions. Both modern countries share the same ethnic groups, history, culture, language, etc. If anything, the more historically correct term would be Senegambian cuisine. The traditional dishes you find in Senegal are the same traditional dishes you find in Gambia, sometimes with slight variations and called different names (though very rare). They are the same groups of people, and it would be strange to think that Gambian dish are copied from Senegal and vice versa. These people used to live in kingdoms and empires, and without borders. These modern borders were invented by European colonisers. To make such a bold claim means your aren't looking at the history precolonialism. Domoda actually originated from Mali (and not Senegal or Gambia), notably, from the Bambara people. The name is actually a Bambara word. The dish came to The Gambia and Senegal during the Mali Empire through the Mandinka migration. I've been documenting the history of Senegambian dishes for well over 30 years as it is a great passion of mine. Most are authentically Senegambian, and some brought in from other West African nations notably Nigeria e.g. akara (introduced to Gambia by Nigerian migration, and from there into Senegal); supa kanja (okra soup with fufu/rice) from Ghana (first to Gambia, and from there, to Senegal); etc. The mutual exchange is mainly within Western Africa. And the Nigerian and Ghanaian who brought their dishes to the Senegambia region (Gambia first, due to being English speaking countries) and took with them benachin to their countries, which they call Jolof rice in their countries, in homage to the Jolof (the historical kingdom and empire in present-day Senegambia). The authentic Senegambian dishes you find in Gambia are the same ones you find in Senegal sometimes with slight differences. If you want the true and authentic Senegambian dishes as Senegambian ancestors used to make them, you have to go to Gambia as they have preserved them without overflowing the dish with too many ingredients that were not available to the ancestors, like the Senegalese are known for doing. However, if you want a Senegambian dish that has been elevated and modernised, then Senegal is the best place to go. Both are delicious in their own right. It's just that Gambians have preserved the authentic recipes without too many ingredients that was not available to the ancestors, while Senegalese have elevated and modernised them. It's all a matter of taste. Having roots in both countries, you have to recognise these subtle differences and understand the history and historical geography of the region before making such a bold claim that Gambian dishes came from Senegal or vice versa. That is a very Eurocentric & post colonialist mindset. People used to eat before the Europeans came and before the countries were named The Gambia and Senegal! It is also nationalistic which is not based on history as I have seen some young Senegalese and Gambians (but especially Senegalese) do. They truly lack knowledge of the history of the region. Tamsier (talk) 22:21, 23 February 2026 (UTC)

Redundancy in "Etymology" section

The "Etymology" section would be a lot cleaner and easier to read without so many redundancies. Most of the information in the section is repeated elsewhere in the same section with only minor differences in wording. For example, the information about the country being named after the river is stated four times throughout different paragraphs. I suspect that contributors have been simply appending their research to the section without taking the time to make sure their contributions are properly integrated with the existent content. Nom de vileplume (talk) 01:40, 13 December 2024 (UTC)

Too much focus on etymology?

I think the etymology section should be cut down a bit. Not only is it the first section following the lead, it's four paragraphs long with one paragraph focusing solely on the use of the word "the." Stormgaze (talk) 14:10, 16 July 2025 (UTC)

Use of the article

UNTerm writes that the adjective for the country is “Gambian”, not “The Gambian”. Additionally, even if the country name should use the definite article, that article should not be capitalized.

https://conferences.unite.un.org/unterm/display/record/unhq/na/7221a14c-4c12-42d1-84bd-e23ec48117d9

https://unterm.un.org/unterm2/en/country?_gl=1%2ayuu8z6%2a_ga%2aMTMwOTIwMTg3Mi4xNzQxMzI5NTE4%2a_ga_TK9BQL5X7Z%2aczE3NzczNzI1NTgkbzUzJGcxJHQxNzc3MzcyNjUwJGo0OSRsMCRoMA..

— Ghiznuk (talk) 10:31, 28 April 2026 (UTC)

Apparently there's dispute about the capitalization. https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/Capitalization/faq0107.html says it's "The Gambia", but (like you said) UN materials mostly refer to it as "the Gambia".

Their constitution (the English version, anyway) refers to it as "The Gambia" (https://hrlibrary.umn.edu/research/gambia-constitution.pdf) and I feel like that should override other sources since it's the official national constitution. Bad at pseudonyms (talk) 14:47, 18 May 2026 (UTC)

@Ghiznuk and Bad at pseudonyms: This has been discussed at length at least four times. Check the requested moves above. The problem is that generally Wikipedia will only make a change if there is a consensus to do so, and the world is not consistent enough to come to a clear conclusion. I'd just as well flip a coin and standardize on something, but there's no consensus to do that either. SchreiberBike | ⌨  21:30, 18 May 2026 (UTC)

Ah. Thanks for the clarification! Bad at pseudonyms (talk) 11:53, 19 May 2026 (UTC)