Africa

Snacks from Cameroon

Cameroonian snacking is puff-puff in the francophone cities, chin-chin in the anglophone west, and soya, the peanut-dusted grilled meat of night markets. Kili-kili is peanut crunch. Accra, black-eyed pea fritters, come out of oil still hissing. Roasted plantain with a handful of peanuts is a Douala afternoon. Beignets-haricot split the plate between dough and beans. The country is bilingual in fryers. The candy aisle is still imported.

Updated August 27, 2026

Signature snacks: Puff-puff, Chin-chin, Soya, Kili-kili
Flavor palette: peanut dust, fried dough, plantain
When people snack: soya after dark and puff-puff with a cold drink
What travelers buy: kili-kili, chin-chin, peanut cakes, puff-puff eaten hot

What to try first

Puff-puff Yeasted fried dough balls, the Douala and Yaoundé street default.
Chin-chin Fried, sweet dough cubes from the anglophone west, a bag snack.
Soya Skewered grilled meat with peanut-spice dust, evening market food.
Kili-kili Crunchy fried peanut bits, oily, addictive, sold in cones.
Accra (beignets de haricot) Black-eyed pea fritters, savory, eaten as a snack or breakfast side.
Roasted plantain Street plantain with peanuts, an afternoon pair in the port cities.

Order puff-puff in Yaoundé and chin-chin in Bamenda and you have mapped the colonial split onto a fryer. Both are dough. Both are snacks. They are not the same texture: one is a yeast puff, the other a crunchy cube. Kili-kili is the peanut that does not bother becoming a paste.

Soya is the night. Peanut dust on grilled beef, a cold Guinness or a juice, a plastic stool. Accra fritters are the bean side of the oil. Plantain plus peanuts is the cheapest complete snack in Douala. Pack chin-chin and kili-kili. Puff-puff and soya stay on the street. Do not call all of this ‘Nigerian snacks with a border’; soya dust and kili-kili are the Cameroonian names to keep.

Questions about snacks from Cameroon

What snacks is Cameroon known for?

Puff-puff, chin-chin, soya, kili-kili peanuts, accra bean fritters, and roasted plantain.

What is soya?

Grilled meat skewers coated in a peanut-spice mix, sold at night markets, especially in the north and in city car parks.

What travels from Cameroon?

Chin-chin and kili-kili. Puff-puff, accra, and soya are eat-now foods.

From the journal

No tasting reviews from Cameroon yet. This page is the research hub. When we eat something from here, the note will land in the journal and on this page.