Posted to Journeytosolidarity.org by Jay Breitlow 2 March 2009
Walking with the girls from the office (more than a half dozen beautiful young Ghanaina women and one pale looking lost white boy) along the blacktopped, hot road radiating heat, we stop at a small little non-descript shop that looks broken down from the outside. However once inside, the building is neatly set with white table clothes and beautiful West African style paintings on the wall. You almost get the feeling you are in a very swanky African style place back at home.
Traditional West African Fufu
I’m told by the girls that the meal of the day at this place is something called ‘fufu’. Fufu is a starchy white paste, which is a mixture of flour, a starchy root called cassava and plantains. In other words a giant tastee dough ball. This fufu is dropped into a bowl of soup which tastes like a chilli/curry mix and for good measure a protein such as snail, fish, crab, chicken, goat or beef is added. The best part of the whole thing is that they bring everyone a bowl of water and a lime to your table so that you can wash your right hand, and only your culturally accepted right hand. Yes in Ghana you eat with your hands, or I should say hand. If you were to eat with your left hand it would be both insulting and rude to those around you. The best part? Well once you are done with your bowl of fufu, and there is some soup left, you don’t grab a spoon, which I tried to do. Instead the correct thing to do is grab the bowl with both hands and drink from the bowl. It’s Ok to slurp and to be real messy, as long as you only used your right hand throughout the process. I love this place, it’s as if I don’t ever have to get past second grade with my eating habits!
Dr. Jay with some local school children
The funny thing is that later in the evening a few of my Americans friends decided that we should go get a few beers. Now the Ghanaian bar scene is great and nearly every bar has beautiful people working and outdoor seating because it never rains and is always warm. Instead we ended up walking into a ‘Western sports bar’ not far off of someplace like BW3’s or your other favorite chain sports bar. It’s even complete with English trivia night! I’m not really bothered about going to an American style place, in fact it was nice to go to a place that had a bit of a feeling of home, but after a week in Africa when I walked into a bar full of white people it was culture shock of a whole different variety. It was reassuring that I am fully immersed in a whole new and different culture and assimilating it well enough that when I see people of familiar/similar color, they actually look different to me. I’ve had a wonderful first week here and am excited to get to adjusting patients tomorrow in the heat of the day!
Tags: culture Ghana
