Food

Food is something that is always on my mind. I eat a lot back home in the U.S., and that really hasn’t changed since coming to Ghana. I start my day off with a breakfast fit for champion athletes, or at least mega-men looking to beef up. It usually consists of a heavy porridge made from maize or millet (to which I add two or three heaping spoonfuls of sugar and full-cream evaporated milk), either scrambled or hard-boiled eggs, sausage, and toast. Lately, I have been adding one or two small mangoes to this, as it is just now becoming their season. This meal is not particularly Ghanaian–indeed, I typically have these items back in the states, save maybe the porridge–and my host family doesn’t usually even eat until lunchtime. Still, I have a massive breakfast every single day thanks to my gracious host mother.

Riding in a tro-tro provides a great opportunity to buy snacks and junk-food and generally increase my caloric intake. As I ride to work, the abundance of plantain chip, yoghurt, Fanmilk, and doughnut sellers astonishes me. I try not to partake of these foods too much because I am honestly not that hungry between my very large meals and also because I can’t imagine they are very good for me. However, I sometimes allow myself a FanIce,FanYogo, or the occasional “Bofrut,” which is a delicious fried doughnut served with peanuts. Buying on-the-go from street sellers is a really fun and convenient experience that I will surely miss when I return home to my realm of static shopping.

For lunch, I usually have something small, either fried yam with chili pepper sauce or grilled plantain with peanuts. My most significant meal of the day undoubtedly occurs at dinner, which I often help to prepare with my host brother or other family members. I am now a veritable expert at frying plantain:

And I have started to help out with more complicated dishes like this stew, which is one of my absolute favorite foods here:

Some of the foods that are “most Ghanaian” are fufu, banku, and kenkey, although there are many, many other traditional dishes. However, these are all somewhat similar, and I will provide a quick guide on how to eat banku. Banku is made from corn flour and some kasava flour and is constantly stirred while cooked on a high heat. Banku looks very similar to kenkey and fufu, and it is eaten in the same manner. Thus, if you can eat banku, you can eat them all.

Step 1: Look at your meal. That’s the banku on the right and the okro stew on the left.

Step 2: Take a piece of the banku and form a small cup shape. Make sure to use the right hand.

Step 3: Dip the banku into the stew, scoopingup as little or as much as would like.

Step 4: Enjoy! It is helpful (and customary) to swallow banku, fufu, and kenkey without chewing.

So there you have it: a sampling of the foods I commonly eat and enjoy, as well as a basic guide in “how to eat like a Ghanaian.” I can’t really say that I eat like a Ghanaian, though; I am much less efficient and expedient. Despite this, I am trying my best. I have to go now–I think I’m a little late for dinner.