In West Africa, meals are not thought of in terms of starter-main course-dessert, but around a nourishing base — rice, pounded yam, plantain (foutou), or cassava semolina — topped with a generous sauce shared from a common dish, often eaten with the right hand. A refreshing drink and a welcoming kola nut frame this moment of sharing, where, as in Kourouma's novels, the table is first and foremost a place for conversation.

Two pillars of Malinké and Ivorian cuisine: red palm oil gives sauces their ember-like color and roundness, while roasted then ground peanuts thicken and perfume. Kourouma grew up in this Northern Ivorian cuisine before discovering, in Lyon, the French table — two worlds he made dialogue all his life, on the plate as in language.