Ghanaian Food

So what the hell have I been eating all this time? The food here is a little bit different - no burgers, no nachos and no Kraft Dinner (apparently in the US it's known as "Mac and Cheese"). What is a lonely Canuck to do?

The local dishes in Ghana are almost exclusively rice-based, which is odd, since rice is not a traditionally local crop. Regardless, it's all they seem to eat here and they have a hundred ways of preparing it. For you vegetarians out there, Ghanaian dishes also tend to come with either chicken (always fried) and fish, which is cooked, fried, or dried. I might also add that the fish here is not big tasty salmon or Arctic char that you find in the supermarket. Rather, it's locally caught tilapa or something else small and not healthy-looking. We never eat the fish here. Another caveat: food is often cooked in fish oil, so you never really know. Even if you say "no meat, please" they will just smile and nod while heaping tons on.

Ghanaian food (according to my guidebook) has a reputation for being the most interesting in West Africa. And for you other West African countries, I pity you greatly. Joe stated that while he eats the local food often, he will not miss it and I'm inclined to agree, for the most part. There's simply way too much rice and not enough vegetables in the average Ghanaian diet. Anyways, here's a rundown of the basic meals, all of which can be purchased for cheap at a local stand:

Wayke (pronounced "wat-chay") - The first thing that I ate while here, it's a dark rice-and-beans combo that is quite tasty and spicy. It reminds me a bit of Trinidadian palau, which Maleaha's mom makes when I visit, so in a way it's kind of a comfort food. They put some weird fish/pepper sauce over it and shito, a tasty, spicy peper sauce (that's right... laugh it up, children, it's "shito"). I recommend adding some fried plantains, salad or a bit of chicken.

Jollof - is a similar rice dish that is light brown-coloured, less spicy and interchangeable with wayke.

Fufu - is a gelatinous rice ball that is served in a meat or fish sauce (ask for without fish heads). Making it is actually suprisingly difficult: someone fills a small bucket of it, pounds it for a while with a log and lets it ferment for a while before serving it. It's mushy and sticky at the same time and the locals eat it with their hands, so dig in if you don't want to look like an idiot!

Banku - is largely the same deal, but a little more solid and dry on the inside, so it absorbs the soup/sauce better than fufu.

Kenke - the most solid member of the pounded rice family (although I don't believe it has a latin name yet), it's served in a giant leaf with the sauce, for some reason. A friend from Vermont compared it to mashed potatoes... whatever makes it go down easier!

Red-Red - can be any colour of the rainbow, but the gist of it is that it's beans and some mystery soup that's mixed together. What makes it special is when they add some powdered cornmeal, which makes it more solid and forkable. The icing on the cake is the fried plantains that they add to it, which makes it sweet. Red-red is considered a lunch food, so early afternoon is the best time to get it.

Kellewelle - is fried plantain that's chopped up into little bits for a snack. For you obrunis, plantains are like giant bananas that aren't really tasty until you do something crazy like fry them in palm oil.

Yams - A traditional staple of West Africa, they're giant African potatoes that are either boiled (not bad, like boiled or baked potato), or - of course - fried. The latter method is my favourite, because fried yams taste like thick french fries, so when I get them, I bring salt and ketchup with me and feel like I'm back home! Now, if only they had hamburgers here...

Fried Egg on Bread - Basically an egg sandwich, for some reason, they eat it here morning, noon and night. They scramble it, add bits of tomatoes, peppers and onions, fry it all and put it on a bun. BYO Ketchup.

There's a basic rundown of local dishes here. Some are pretty decent and some aren't good at all. But hey, chacun son gout, as the French say. Ghanaians love this stuff, which is evident since nobody seems to make anything else. Even my roommate Patrick gets banku from his mother, makes his own rice and loves it! Actually, to be fair, like any dish, it does taste better when it's homemade.

If these foods don't strike your fancy, one of the great things about being here is the cheap and delicious fresh fruit! Depending on what's in season, there are local bananas, oranges, tangerines, papaya ("paw-paw"), pineapples, apples from South Africa and - my ultimate favourite - mangoes, AKA my 5,000 cedi-a-day addiction. They aren't in season from Septemeber to November, so I've been in a deep funk for a while now, but it'll be a beautiful day when I can get my hands on one...


So there's the basic rundown on Ghanaian cuisine. I haven't even talked about what they have to drink here and where us Westerners frequently go to for "comfort" food (heck, even for "nutritious" food). Those posts will come soon. I hope you enjoyed this one, Kashina!