“If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion, and avoid the people, you might better stay at home’’ – Miriam Beard.
Almost certainly, Ghana fufu is old but gold. It’s a fine meal and you want to savor every last morsel, just like in Oliver Twist, it is tempting to ask for more. Fufu is a staple dish across West Africa and some parts of East Africa, eaten for decades if not centuries. It provides nutrients in fiber, carbohydrates, and vitamins. Oh and some protein from the accompanying soups.
Quite remarkably fufu is a weekend affair in Ghana. Talk about a weekend in Ghana, and the traditional Ghanaian will first think about the fufu fiesta. A weekend’s plan without the mention of fufu could be a zero plan for some. Mummy’s weekend menu without the fancy flair of fufu is rendered null and void, more so empty.
Softly, and subtly, the custom of eating fufu over the weekends in traditional family homes, eateries, and roadside traditional bazaars is considered an emerging national pride. Though its maiden eaters are the Akans, fufu is now a revered dish in almost-if-not-all kitchens across Ghana and adored by frequented tourists.
Fufu means ‘’To pound’’ which refers to how boiled edible starchy root tubers have to be pounded into a dough-like elastic ball. This event of pounding fufu engages the function of mortar and pestle. Pounding fufu makes some pleasant noise with rhythm. It requires skillful art which in essence offers a beautiful sight to sigh.
Fufu making is a tedious process and so mainly recruits the use of manpower with some little brainpower as it usually involves two persons pounding one at a time.
In Ghana, cassava is a native crop that is the regular cuisine and features staple plantains as a mix to make fufu, providing you with essential nutrients and vitamins representing a part of a balanced diet.
Sometimes yam tubers will supplement cocoyam to make the fufu meal. Depending on the tribe or who is cooking, the green plantain can boil unpeeled which according to my sources provides medicinal value. Somehow, this act is believed to naturally reduce the number of carbohydrates inherent in cassava.
Just as the saying, variety is the spice of life, fufu is typically served with different kinds of soup not sauce. To make things better, a lot depends on the soup to make it tasty. To make the recipe much more eatable, it is either served with light soup, palm nut soup, or groundnut soup.
For many Ghanaians, light soup is the best deal. The rush and love for this delicacy compel the typical Ghanaian to eat with our hands. The infamous local gin ‘’akpeteshie’’ plays its role as an appetizer to its addicts.
Perhaps first-timers, for example, a tourist could try eating with your cutlery usually spoons. Our guests are entreated to nibble with their hands since that serves a traditional experience.
Delicately sip your soup at the end of eating your fufu to benefit from the nutritional benefits of the soup. The local men will say the soup gives blood and is a feat that exhibits strength.
Somewhere, for its nutrient-rich-organic ingredients, the soup is promised to provide viagra. Free advice?
Personally, fufu is best served in an earthenware bowl with light soup coupled with some red wine. I can eat fufu every day of the week without restraint.
The best way to experience other cultures is to immerse in their food culture. Visit Ghana, eat Ghanaian homemade fufu, participate in the fufu-making process, and your visit to Ghana is a wonder.
Enjoy your stay!!
Interesting