Congolese cooking is hearty, cassava-heavy, and built around communal eating. Meals are simple in structure -- a starch, a sauce, and whatever protein is available -- but the flavors are rich and satisfying, especially when palm oil, peanuts, and slow-cooked greens are involved.
Fufu is the staple you will eat most. A thick, dough-like mound made from cassava flour (or sometimes maize), it is torn off by hand and dipped into stews and sauces. Every meal seems to come with it. Chikwanga is another cassava preparation -- the flour is wrapped in banana leaves and steamed into a dense, slightly sour bread that travels well and keeps for days.
The two dishes that define Congolese cuisine are pondu (also called saka saka) and moambe. Pondu is a stew of pounded cassava leaves cooked slowly with palm oil, onion, and often dried fish or smoked meat. It is earthy, slightly bitter, and deeply savory. Moambe chicken is the country's signature celebration dish -- chicken simmered in a thick, reddish sauce made from palm nut pulp. The sauce is creamy and slightly sweet, and when it is good, it is very good.
Liboke is fish or meat wrapped in banana leaves with tomatoes, onion, and spices, then steamed or grilled. The banana leaf keeps everything moist and fragrant. River fish is excellent in the DRC -- capitaine and tilapia from the Congo River are common -- and grilled fish served with pondu and fufu is a meal you will have many times.
Peanuts appear everywhere: ground into sauces, added to stews, roasted as snacks. Madesu, a simple stew of beans cooked with palm oil, is a common and inexpensive everyday meal. Plantains are fried, boiled, or mashed as a side.
Street food in Kinshasa revolves around grilled meat and fish, fried plantains, and brochettes. The city also has a growing restaurant scene, particularly in the Gombe district, though eating out at sit-down restaurants is expensive by local standards.
Beer is the drink of choice. Primus and Skol are the main local brands, served cold and consumed in large quantities, especially with music. Palm wine is traditional in rural areas and worth trying if offered. Congolese coffee, from the eastern highlands, can be excellent when you can find it.