The bus station (gare routière) area on the southern edge of the centre is where Parakou's best street food concentrates. Women at charcoal braziers serve igname pilée (pounded yam) with a peanut sauce or palmnut soup from early morning through the evening rush. Brochettes of beef or goat meat, grilled over wood charcoal and served with onion and chilli, are the standard quick meal for travellers passing through.
Look also for akassa — fermented corn dough steamed in banana leaves and served with grilled fish — and wagashi, the local fresh cheese made from Fulani cow's milk that appears throughout northern Benin. It's fried until golden and eaten with a tomato-chilli sauce. Prices are what you'd pay anywhere in the rural north: very little, and worth every CFA franc.