The present paper analyzes 33 series of culinary vocabulary in a representative set of Kongo languages from the point of view of language history. Even if from a culinary perspective, few series can relate to historical changes prior to 1482, many are revealing with respect to language history. The effects of historical state borders and trade routes clearly resulted in diverging and converging developments within the Kikongo Language Cluster (KLC). The paper demonstrates a dichotomy between northern and southern Kongo languages with Sundi and Manyanga shifting alliances. Moreover, relatively recent innovations differentiate part of the West Kongo languages from the remainder of the KLC.