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Ghana Food and Drink
: I Can`t Eat This Food! :
A white tourist comes into a Ghanaian restaurant, sits at the next table to the window, and orders an often recommended local dish - FuFu with Goat Light Soup. The waiter sets it down in front of him, and stands back to watch Obroni (white man) enjoy it. But the man just sits there. "Is there something wrong?" the waiter asks. "I can`t eat this food" the man replies. "Is it to hot?" the waiter asks. "No." "Is it to cold?" - "No." "To salty?" - "No." ... Read More Scroll Down..! |
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The typical Ghanaian staples in the south include cassava and plantain, FuFu, Kinkey and Bankou.
In the northern parts of the country, their main staples include millet and sorghum. Yam, maize and beans aroused across the country as staple foods. Crops such as peanuts and Coco-Yam are also important in the local cuisine. With the advent of modernization and colonialism, imported crops such as rice and wheat have been increasingly incorporated in Ghanaian cuisine. |
Some recipes for dishes from Ghana. They are garnered from five cookbooks:
ANC -- African News Cookbook: African Cooking for Western Kitchens, Africa News Service, Inc., edited by Tami Hultman, Penguin Books (Viking Press), ISBN 0 14 046.751 3 (pbk)
CAC -- Caribbean and African Cookery, by Rosamund Grant, Distributed in the U.S. by Seven Hills Books, Cincinnati, OH, ISBN 0-948817-13-5
BCIC - Betty Crocker's International Cookbook, NY: Random House, ISBN 0- 394-50453-4
FC --- Fiery Cuisines: A Hot & Spicy Food Lover's Cookbook, by Dave Dewitt and Nancy Gerlach, Chicago: Contemporary Books, Inc., ISBN 0- 8092-5148-5
TH --- Totally Hot! The Ultimate Hot Pepper Cookbook, by Michael Goodwin, Charles Perry, and Naomi Wise, Garden City, NY: A Dolphin Book (Doubleday & Co), 1986, ISBN 0-385-19198-7.
ANC -- African News Cookbook: African Cooking for Western Kitchens, Africa News Service, Inc., edited by Tami Hultman, Penguin Books (Viking Press), ISBN 0 14 046.751 3 (pbk)
CAC -- Caribbean and African Cookery, by Rosamund Grant, Distributed in the U.S. by Seven Hills Books, Cincinnati, OH, ISBN 0-948817-13-5
BCIC - Betty Crocker's International Cookbook, NY: Random House, ISBN 0- 394-50453-4
FC --- Fiery Cuisines: A Hot & Spicy Food Lover's Cookbook, by Dave Dewitt and Nancy Gerlach, Chicago: Contemporary Books, Inc., ISBN 0- 8092-5148-5
TH --- Totally Hot! The Ultimate Hot Pepper Cookbook, by Michael Goodwin, Charles Perry, and Naomi Wise, Garden City, NY: A Dolphin Book (Doubleday & Co), 1986, ISBN 0-385-19198-7.
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This foods represent some of the staple foods in Ghana.
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Below picture: Dry & Smoked Fish!
Eating Out
There is no shortage of inexpensive "chop bars" (local small restaurant) in Ghana, particularly in Accra, where you can buy Ghanaian staples such as Fufu, Kenkey, Banku, & Jollof Rice. These dishes are often made out of crops commonly farmed in Ghana, including Cssava, Yam, Plantain, and meats such as goat, fish, and chicken. Popular dishes available from roadsides include roasted Plantain, chicken skewers, and a delicious treat called Killi-Willi an interesting mix of deep fried Plantain seasoned with Ginger, pepper & salt. |
Breakfast in Ghana
Most of the dishes mentioned above are served during lunch and supper in modern Ghana. However, it is not uncommon to find agrarian communities having these meals before farm work in the morning. In large cities, working-class people would often take tea, cocoa, oats, rice porridge (locally called Rice Water), Kooko (fermented maize porridge) and Koose/Akara or Maasa (rice and maize meal fritters). Other breakfast foods include Ekuegbemi (grits), Oblayo (maize porridge), Tombrown (roasted maize porridge), and Millet porridge the most popular foods are Jollof Rice and Fufu. Bread is an important feature in Ghanaian breakfast and baked foods. Ghanaian bread, which is known for its good quality in West Africa, is baked with wheat flour and sometimes cassava flour is added for an improved texture. There are four types of bread in Ghana. They are tea bread (similar to the baguette), sugar bread (which is a sweet bread), brown (whole wheat) bread, and butter bread. |
Important Health Tip: Any vegetable oil is to be consumed raw or extra virgin. Cold pressed and fresh, never refined. They should not be used for cooking at all. For cooking use only coconut oil, palm oil or butter. Ask in Ghana for exactly that!
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Most Ghanaian dishes are served with a often hot pepper stew or soup. Ghanaian stews and soups are quite sophisticated with liberal and adventurous use of exotic ingredients and a wide variety of flavors, spices and textures.
Spices such as thyme, garlic, ginger and bay leaf; vegetables such as wild mushroom, garden eggs (eggplant), tomatoes and various types of pulses; beef, pork, goat, sheep, chicken, smoked meat and fish; crab, shrimp, periwinkles, octopus; bush-meat, snails, and duck; offal, trotters and cow skin are all featured in Ghanaian cuisine. Palm oil, coconut oil, shea butter, palm kernel oil and peanut oil are important local oils used for cooking and frying. In certain stews, palm oil is the preferred oil for preparing it. Classic examples are Okro stew or soup, Fante-Fante, Red Red, Egusi stew and Mpihu/Mpotompoto (similar to Poi). |
SHITO (pack) - A hot pepper sauce, made out of palm or standard oil, onion, ginger, hot pepper, dry dry fish, fish cubes...
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Tilapia, fried whitebait (Chinam), smoked fish and crayfish are all common components of Ghanaian dishes. The cornmeal based staples, Banku and Kenkey are usually accompanied by some form of fried fish or grilled Tilapia and a very spicy condiment made from raw red and green chilies, onions and tomatoes (hot pepper sauce). Banku and Tilapia is a combo served in most Ghanaian restaurants.
Gari soakings are also one of the Ghanaian staples that most can not live without. It entails Gari (dried, roasted Cassava), sugar, Groundnut (Peanut) and milk.
Other dishes include Ampesie (boiled yam and unripe plantain) which are usually accompanied with Kontomire, Groundnut (Peanut) soup, or Nyadowa (garden egg stew).
An alternative to the starch and stew combination is "Red Red", a popular and easy to find dish. It is a bean stew served with fried ripe plantain. It earns its name from the Palm Oil that tints the stew and the bright orange color of the fried Plantain.
FuFu with a Dry Fish Light Soup. A well-known dish and choice of many people! (smoked fish)
Food in Upper East & Upper West regions of Ghana: Kore, a staple food, is thick cornmeal mush eaten with soup made of green leaves and dried ground fish. (named in Upper East; Tiset, and prepared the same way)
A favourite (Upper West) Sissala meal is pounded yam, or Kapalla, which is like heavy mashed potato. As in most African culture It is an abomination to eat with your left hand. Most Kapalla goes with a tasty soup. Soups are made by boiling peanuts or a variety of green leaves. (Often used the green bitter leaves, which are known, to be very healthy!)
Gari soakings are also one of the Ghanaian staples that most can not live without. It entails Gari (dried, roasted Cassava), sugar, Groundnut (Peanut) and milk.
Other dishes include Ampesie (boiled yam and unripe plantain) which are usually accompanied with Kontomire, Groundnut (Peanut) soup, or Nyadowa (garden egg stew).
An alternative to the starch and stew combination is "Red Red", a popular and easy to find dish. It is a bean stew served with fried ripe plantain. It earns its name from the Palm Oil that tints the stew and the bright orange color of the fried Plantain.
FuFu with a Dry Fish Light Soup. A well-known dish and choice of many people! (smoked fish)
Food in Upper East & Upper West regions of Ghana: Kore, a staple food, is thick cornmeal mush eaten with soup made of green leaves and dried ground fish. (named in Upper East; Tiset, and prepared the same way)
A favourite (Upper West) Sissala meal is pounded yam, or Kapalla, which is like heavy mashed potato. As in most African culture It is an abomination to eat with your left hand. Most Kapalla goes with a tasty soup. Soups are made by boiling peanuts or a variety of green leaves. (Often used the green bitter leaves, which are known, to be very healthy!)
The waiter calls for the manager, and for the chef, and each goes through the same questions...
Finally, the white man says, "Sir, I would like to taste your dish..., but - WHERE is the spoon?" * In Ghana, as in many other African countries, people eat with their right hand. FuFu and Light Soup is just one of many dishes, eaten this way. But, you may always ask, for a spoon, fork and knife. It`s just the local, traditional way, to enjoy food. And yes, you will always, be offered soap and water, to wash your hands, before and after your meal... ;-) Please visit again, for much more pictures and info`s. Advertisement
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Food and Grink in Ghana are as well offered for sale on the streets (roast goats meat, Corn, baked Plantain, Yam chips , Kinkey, Bankou, oranges, tasty Pineapple.
As drink, bags of iced water or fresh Coconut milk. Most Ghanaians drink at a "Spot" (Open-Air Bar) usually walled by colored boards, Star, or Club Beer, Cola... Ask for food, cooked the traditional way! It`s not just healthier, but also far more tasty! Coconut oil, palm kernel oil and Shea butter were used for frying most local fried foods. However, with the introduction of refined oils and negative media adverts targeted, at these local oils, their use have become less popular. They are mostly used in some traditional homes, especially in Northern Ghana. And for soap and cosmetic making. Commercial food vendors, to cut down cost on, using often the refined vegetable oils. Common soups are groundnut soup, light (tomato) soup, Kontomire (taro leaves) soup, Palmnut soup, and okra soup. Tomato stew or gravy is a stew which is often served with rice. Other vegetable stews are made with kontomire, garden eggs, egusi (pumpkin seeds), spinach, okra, etc., mixed with any protein of one's choice. Usually rice is served with a soup or stew, Kenkey is served with fried fish and hot pepper while Banku is usually served with okra stew or soup and occasionally with Tilapia. Fufu, Akple, and Konkonte are served with soup. 
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There are a lot of people of Lebanese, Chinese, and Indian extraction living in Ghana, and not surprisingly, there are a number of excellent restaurants in the Greater Accra Region.
There are literally thousands of local vendors and "chop bars" that serve Ghanaian dishes, and popular foreign cuisines include Italian, Lebanese, French, Chinese, Mexican, Indian, even German.
There are literally thousands of local vendors and "chop bars" that serve Ghanaian dishes, and popular foreign cuisines include Italian, Lebanese, French, Chinese, Mexican, Indian, even German.
A number of popular dishes practically exploded onto the scene in Ghana over the last decade. Particularly Pizza & burgers, which seem to be available from nearly every restaurant or "chop bars". However, both range from excellent to very average quality. Sometimes "Western Food" is sold quiet expensive. Make sure, that the food is cooked very well. Pizza and burgers - very important!
Without doubt, the largest concentration of international restaurants are located within close proximity to Cantonments Road ('Oxford Street') in the Osu district, although you will see that other districts in Accra also have quality restaurants & eateries.There are also supermarkets, like Koala (Osu). Very expensive, but quality food is being sold!
Without doubt, the largest concentration of international restaurants are located within close proximity to Cantonments Road ('Oxford Street') in the Osu district, although you will see that other districts in Accra also have quality restaurants & eateries.There are also supermarkets, like Koala (Osu). Very expensive, but quality food is being sold!
Food Health - Interesting websites (external): http://doctorgenao.com/2011/04/03/dangers-of-vegetable-oils/ *