Food in Ghana

Yesterday was by far my favorite day here up to this point.

Yesterday morning I went with my roommate Sarah and our friend Camille to meet up with some of Sarah's Ghanaian friends. We had to take a combination of several tro-tros and a taxi to get there, but we ended up very far southwest of campus at her friend Barbara's tailor shop. Barbara's friend Anastasia lives right next to the shop and makes fufu every Saturday. Fufu is a kind of mashed corn and plantain dough that is served with soup to dip it in. I can't remember the name of the soup we had but it was chicken based and delicious. We just spent the whole day with Anastasia's family helping prepare the fufu. Her two brothers, Reginald and Francis asked us about American and Ghanaian politics and told us about some of the local football (soccer) teams. Anastasia and her mom were really curious as to our opinion about the quick changes that have already begun under the Obama administration, particularly the women's and children's health issues.

Making fufu is a verrrry long process so it gave us lots of time to visit. Us oburuni girls got to try pounding the fufu. It's CRAZY how exact the timing has to be though. One person takes a huge wooden stick (maybe 6 feet long) and literally just pounds and pounds and pounds the dough with it, while another person moves their hands in and out of the dough folding it over itself and helping get lumps out.

I was so amazed at the hospitality I received yesterday. I didn't know these people, and Sarah didn't really either. We were just friends of a friend that had been invited over to spend an entire day together and eat food. Then when they found out how much we love kelewele (see below in "other food"), they decided to make that for us too. All day they kept asking if we could come back every Saturday or at least most Saturdays to just spend time together and enjoy fufu.

Around 5:00 we just meandered back to Legon, watched a movie with some friends and celebrated a friend's birthday. It was a great day just trying to navigate the city without a huge group, and making some awesome Ghanaian friends!

Other kinds of Ghanaian food:

kenkey - MY FAVORITE!!!!!! A fermented corn dough served with a very hot red pepper sauce for dipping. The kenkey comes served in the corn husk and you break off little pieces (using your right hand only), ball it up, and dip it in the sauce. Like most Ghanaian dishes, it's communal and designed to be eaten with others. It's also typically served with fish, but I haven't been adventurous enough to try it with fish yet. (For two reasons. 1, as much as I love seafood, I'm not a huge tilapia fan, and that's pretty much the only fish I've seen anywhere. 2, Ghanaians eat the WHOLE fish. Bones, scales, tail, sometimes the head - everything. Eventually, I'll go for it, but I figure I have time to let myself adjust.) Just the kenkey with the pepper is amazing though.

banku - very similar to kenkey, but served with soup instead of pepper sauce. I've usually seen it with okra and crab soup. It's kind of hit or miss with the banku; about half the time I've had it it's been great and about half the time it hasn't. The consistency is also more doughy than kenkey, which is closer to corn bread. I'll probably just stick to kenkey, but I had wanted to try everything a few times. Most people like one or the other more anyway.

kelewele - fried plantains, with a twist. You can find plantains anywhere in Ghana - plantain chips, roasted whole plantains, or fried plantain pieces. Towards the end of the day, they take the plantains that are brown because they're too soft to fry on their own. Instead, they cut them into smaller pieces and mix them with hot pepper, ginger, cloves, and some other spices. I've noticed this is definitely the "guilty pleasure" food here - everyone makes fun of each other for eating too much, saying they'll get fat.

mutsuo (?) and groundnut soup - pounded rice balls served with soup that tastes just like peanut butter. This is very delicious, but also verrry sweet and I can't eat too much at once. It's intended to be a meal, but I think it would make a better dessert because it's just so sweet!