Fufu (or fufuo, foofoo, foufou /ˈfuˌfu/ foo-foo listenⓘ) is a pounded meal found in West African cuisine.

It also includes variations in the Greater Antilles and Central America, where African culinary influence is high.

[3] Although the original ingredients for fufu are boiled cassava, plantains, and cocoyam, it is also made in different ways in other West African countries.

In Nigeria, fufu (akpu) is made solely from fermented cassava giving it its unique thickness compared to that found in other West African countries.

[5] Before the Portuguese traders introduced cassava to Africa from Brazil in the 16th century, fufu was mainly made from cocoyam, plantain, and yams.

In between blows from the pestle, the mixture is turned by hand, and water is gradually added until it becomes a soft, sticky dough.

Fufu's prevalence in West African subregions has been noted in literature produced by authors from that area.

Excess water is quickly drained by pouring the wet paste into a sack, upon which is placed a heavy and flat item (e.g., a plank and brick).

[22] In Caribbean nations with substantial populations of West African origin (such as Cuba, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Puerto Rico), plantains, cassava or yams are mashed with other ingredients.

Puerto Rican mofongo, in keeping with the creolized cuisine traditions of the Caribbean, tends toward a fufú of much higher density and robust seasoning.

While keeping a conspicuous African character, mofongo has borrowed from the island's Iberian culinary tradition, to create a dish made of fried green and yellow plantains, cassava or breadfruit.

Some recipes call for a meat or vegetable salsa criolla" (related to American Creole sauce) poured atop the hot sphere.

Traditional mofongo, as previously cited, comes seasoned and stuffed with meat and bathed in a chicken broth soup.

A dish called funche made with taro, green and yellow plantains boiled and mashed with butter, garlic, and pork fat was once popular in Puerto Rico.

Funche is written in early Puerto Rican cookbooks around the 1800s, but can probably be traced back to African slaves on the island.

Similarly, in Barbados it serves as part of the national dish and is called cou-cou and uses cornmeal or, less commonly, split peas, green bananas, or breadfruit instead, like several other English Caribbean islands.