African food has plenty of dishes whose names can be surprising to someone encountering them for the first time. Some names come from local languages, some describe an ingredient or cooking method, and others developed from historical circumstances that have little to do with how the dish looks.

Here are 10 African foods with names that often make people stop and ask where they came from.

1. Bunny Chow

Bunny chow is one of South Africa's most famous dishes with a misleading name.

Despite “bunny” appearing in the name, the dish contains no rabbit. It is a loaf or portion of bread hollowed out and filled with curry.

The dish is strongly associated with Durban and developed within the city's Indian South African community.

2. Monkey Bread

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Monkey bread is a traditional name for the edible fruit pulp of the African baobab.

FAO sources record the fruit as “monkey-bread” and describe its pale, dry pulp as edible and suitable for food and beverages.

The name therefore refers to a fruit rather than a baked loaf.

3. Tiger Nuts

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Tiger nuts are not nuts in the botanical sense.

They are small tubers produced by Cyperus esculentus, a plant cultivated and consumed in parts of Africa.

The name comes from the tubers' appearance rather than their botanical classification.

4. Fufu

Image credit : Media: Fufu

Fufu is not one single food with one universal recipe.

FAO explains that the term and its variants are widely used across West Africa for sticky dough or porridge made from pounded starchy roots such as yam, cocoyam or cassava.

That means “fufu” can describe different foods depending on where it is eaten.

5. Puff-Puff

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Puff-puff is the name commonly used in several West African countries for a type of deep-fried dough.

The name is playful and descriptive rather than a translation of a major ingredient.

Different countries have their own versions and names for closely related fried dough foods.

6. Chakalaka

Chakalaka is a South African vegetable relish associated with the country's urban and township food culture.

The name itself has become closely associated with the dish, while its exact history and naming story have several competing accounts.

What is less disputed is the dish's place in modern South African cuisine and its combination of vegetables, spices and beans in many versions.

7. Vetkoek

Vetkoek is another South African food whose name gives a clue about its origins.

The Afrikaans name literally refers to “fat cake,” describing the fried dough from which the food is made.

It is commonly eaten with either savoury or sweet fillings.

8. Ceebu Jën

The name ceebu jën comes from Wolof and is commonly translated as “rice with fish.”

That description fits the dish closely because fish and rice form its defining base.

UNESCO records ceebu jën as originating among fishing communities on Senegal's island of Saint-Louis and recognises its preparation and associated cultural practices as intangible heritage.

9. Mageu

Mageu is the commonly used name for a traditional Southern African fermented cereal beverage.

The Codex Alimentarius documentation notes that the term is widely used across the Southern African Development Community region, although related products can have different local names.

Its name is therefore a regional food term rather than a reference to a particular brand.

10. Tsamma Melon

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The tsamma melon sounds like a cultivated supermarket fruit, but it is a wild melon associated with the Kalahari.

FAO describes tsamma melons as growing wild in the Kalahari and notes that some varieties have traditionally served as an important source of water in dry conditions.

The name is closely associated with southern African desert environments.

African food names often preserve pieces of history that are easy to miss when a dish is viewed only as something on a plate. Some names describe ingredients, some reveal language, and others reflect the communities and places where foods developed.