The few visitors that come to Ghana always want to eat something “African”. I ask them if they know what they’re talking about and the just stare at me perplexed – they want the African experience, they are in Ghana, what else is there to ask? I’m not an expert in African food in general, but I do know a thing or two about Ghanaian food; and yes, it is an experience to eat out in Accra… but not because of the food!
Ghanaian food is very similar to the food you eat in Colombia (both countries are located at the equator and have similar vegetation). The diet is heavily loaded with starches to be able to sustain a hard day’s work. I call it the poor man’s cuisine. Consisting of various ways of cooking, boiling, mixing, frying, or heating up cassava, plantains, beans, rice, and some kind of meat (goat, chicken, or fish) it’s nothing to rave about. It is the same food day in and day out. For the last 365 days I have eaten in the brewery’s canteen every single day - fried chicken with rice (which varies in color depending on what type of coloring the chef has that week). I can’t stand it anymore but it’s free and I have gotten really sick only twice, so that makes a very acceptable average, once every six months in the clinic, not worth fighting for a change – details to be explained in another post. Ghanaians would prefer to be jobless and eat fufu, banku, and redred (traditional names for simple dishes) than to have a job where the canteen serves pasta, pizza, Chinese, or any other non spicy flavor. So eating food in Ghana is not so much about what you eat but where and how you eat it.
Here is an example of a traditional Ghanaian dish - fufu and some sort of red stew always eaten with the hands.
Interestingly enough, there are various restaurants with different world cuisines. From the top of my head I know about 3 sushi, 2 french, 2 tai, 2 pizzerias, 2 italians, 4 chinese, 1 lebanese, 2 african, 1 mexican, 1 korean, 1 irish, and 3 indian places. All of them with pretty good quality food, not New York or London, but pretty good for a place where locals don’t know what chocolate is (although they are the largest exporters of cocoa in the world – go figure).
Notice the elegant decor in some of these places!
Indian...
Italian...
Chinese...
Thai...
A typical evening at any of the above starts at home deciding how many people will be seated at the table. Empirical studies based on our experiences suggest that any party larger than 6 runs a very high risk of getting at least one person’s meal wrong, mixed up, or simply deleted. After arriving at the restaurant you will be greeted by a person who says he is your waiter but who you will rarely see again, as he/she will not want to be the bearer of bad news such as the dish “slipped” the chef's mind (as explained above) or that you will need to leave your engagement ring in lieu of payment as the credit card machine is inexplicably not working today (or any other day for that matter).
Once seated you will be given the wine list. It normally contains great wines from all over the world – especially South Africa – of which you will choose one and 20 minutes later the waiter will confirm he doesn’t have it. You will choose another one and immediately, instead of making you wait this time, he will tell you he doesn’t have it either. You will ask,” What do you have?” to which the waiter will give you a list of wines not in the wine list. This brings us to the next lesson - never choose a wine from the wine menu. The menu was created many years ago when the restaurant opened and those wines have since been consumed. New containers full of wines have come since – none of which are known by the restaurant nor their quality ascertained until they arrive at the restaurant door. Choose wine by the grape – just ask for a Chardonnay, or Pinotage, or Cabernet, sit back, and enjoy whatever the restaurant has. It’s easier when you don’t have a choice!
After choosing your wine you will choose your main course and if you are one of the lucky 5 out of 6, you will very much enjoy your meal. You will look back at everything that has happened in the last hour or so and just smile and say Akwabaa (welcome in Twi - one of the local languages). The restaurant will not rush you out and you will enjoy complaining about everything that has happened that week with friends. By the end of the meal you will be in a good mood again, or maybe I should say you better be in a good mood because you will still need to pass the last ordeal – getting the check can be as traumatic as ordering your food.
I won’t go into details, but let’s just say that if you get the check with no errors and get home by 10pm you have made it successfully through the night.
Try repeating this approximately 3 nights a week! Akwaaba… Welcome to Ghana.
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