Think of a diet packed with enough carbohydrates to give posh spice a severe heart attack. That is what my stomach
encounters daily in Ghana… White rice (starch), potatoes (starch), yam (starch), plantain
(starch), bananas (starch), cassava (starch), maize (starch), bread (more
starch…)
Don’t get me wrong, the food here is DELICIOUS!
And our starchy staples are supplemented by chicken, fish, beans, jollof sauce
or goat. It’s usually unadvisable to associate the mangy chickens and goats tottering
in the streets with the food that appears on your plate.
We get out eats from little booths on the
side of the road or head-food (food carried in boxes balanced on women’s heads).
Some of these women risk their lives to criss-cross through traffic and fill
the tummies of hungry tro-tro commuters. We also go to spot bars (small bars with
plastic furniture that serve very cheap meals and local beer). One spot I saw
last week was interestingly aptly named “Comfortable Stomach Spot Bar,” because frankly it can be
a gamble sometimes. Some spots serve bush meat and there’s no identifying exactly which
animals constitute ‘bush.’ It could include anything from monkey to grass
cutter (a massive rat-like creature). I stay away from bush meat.
What’s for dinner?…
- Red-red is fried plantain (like banana),
served with a bean stew which often includes fish or tuna. Yum.
- Ground nut soup with omo tuo (rice balls)
is a peanut soup usually served on Sundays. Like most Ghanaian food, it’s spicy
and is served with chicken. This is one of my favourites!
- Banku is fermented maize mixed with
pounded cassava. We eat it with a spicy red Okra sauce. This dish is definitely
eaten with your right hand. (Don’t ever dream of handling food, or even passing
someone money, with your left hand) Delicious!
- Jollof rice is rice cooked for about two
hours in a red sauce until the rice absorbs the vibrant colour. Once again – spicy
and served with chicken or fish.
- Yam and Palaver sauce is either boiled or
fried yam served with a spinach-like sauce which is sometimes mixed with tuna or chicken.
- Fufu is plantain and cassava pounded
until it forms a goo-gacky-doughy-plastic consistency. It’s a specialty and is
usually served with light soup. It sticks to the roof of your mouth a little. I
can take it or leave it but it is nice to see the women pounding fufu in the
mornings. My attempt was rather unco.
I have to admit that I do miss vegetables,
dairy of any kind, cereal and red meat but Ghanaian food is amazing and often
when given the choice between a 'continental' dish and a plate of red-red, I’ll
take the red-red.
Other favourites: gorgeous pineapples,
papaya, bananas, ground nuts, tiger nuts, fan yogo, plantain chips, kili-kili
spicy plantain pieces, yam balls, banana bread, and these really delicious soya bean balls mixed
with vegetables and deep-fried like dim-sims.
The egg-sandwiches are awesome! Ama, our
local ‘egg-sandwich lady’ in Cape Coast made the best ones hand down. 70 peswas (around 85 cents) buys you
an oozy omelette with vegetables and laughing cow cheese melted into it and served
inside pan-toasted white bread.
Some of the most delicious things I’ve
eaten came from unidentified opaque black plastic bags offered to me by strangers in taxis or tro-tros. They say, “you’re invited” and it’s
polite to take some. I enjoy sharing my own food with strangers in transit
also because sharing is so integral to the culture here.
My host mum, Mrs Djan, is going to teach me
to cook some traditional dishes so I’ll be making a beeline for the markets in
search for some scarce Ghanaian ingredients when I’m home.
You’re invited!
