African Cuisine

Eating in Ghana is a unique experience; not only the food but the conditions in which you dine. Eating is not a social experience in fact guests eat alone at table or at a tray table in front of the TV. Eating is done for your nourishment not for socializing. People eat what they have available which means what you grow yourself or get from going to market day. Most of what I eat is grown by the family I live with. Right outside my window are 2 huge mango trees (they will soon ripen). Across the path from the front door are plantain, cocoyam (the huge leaves are the only green leafy vegetable I have seen kontumire), oranges, papaya, banana ( the tiniest and sweetest I have ever tasted) yam and pineapple. Around back grows the palm tree with palm nuts used to make soup and the dried palm fronds make the brooms I awake to the sound of every morning. In the back field are cassava, maize and more yam. Traditionally people eat with their right hands, yes even the soup. Fufu becomes the spoon by which you scoop up the liquid. Fufu is made by pounding together cassava and plantain. The pounder stands with a very tall wooden pole whose base is a flattened circle about 6 inches in diameter. The kneader sits on a low stool and places the plantain and cassava in what looks like a large version of a mortar. The pounder pounds the ingredients while the kneader moves the ingredients when the pounder is in the air. I have yet to witness anyone’s hand getting pounded but I am sure it happens on occasion. I have noticed many things have a rhythm to them and this is certainly one of them. After about 15 minutes of this you are left with a doughy mound called fufu. This is placed in a bowl and usually light soup is poured over it. You eat this by scooping a piece of fufu up and through the soup and then it is in and down. You do not chew fufu. As old as this continent is and considering this is a developing country these people make great use of their natural resources.