The short answer to this is “not enough”, as I’ve certainly lost some weight since I arrived. (VSO note that generally male volunteers lose weight while the females gain). I will save what Ghanaians eat and eating out for another day, suffice to say, what I generally prepare bears no little relation to what my neighbours will be eating.
I am fortunate in that Koforidua offers a wide range of foodstuffs in its markets and shops. In Accra almost everything is available – at a price. Ho benefits from being near the Togolese border and sees some fruit and vegetables that we don’t. In the north, the variety is poorer although, from what I saw of it, Tamale does pretty well.
The market in Koforidua is large. Tomatoes, onions, garlic, ginger, cabbage, green beans, carrots, cucumber, green peppers, chilli peppers and spring onions are easily found and instantly recognisable. Potatoes can often be found in small (relatively) expensive quantities. Cauliflowers and aubergines are very rare indeed but huge avocadoes are available from time to time. Less familiar items are garden eggs (yellowish, auberginish and nt surprisingly egg-shaped), ochre, cocoa yam leaves (large limp leaves, not unlike spinach), cassava, plaintain and yam. Plantain is like a large banana but fried or boiled and used as a vegetable. Yam looks like a small wooden log. Once cooked it’s like a very starchy, very bland potato. With suitable flavouring it makes a fine potato substitute and costs a lot less than the real thing. Cassava is similar to yam.
There are oranges, bananas (smaller than those at home, but with a good taste), pineapples, coconuts, (lumpy) lemons, papaya and (seasonally) mangoes. Apples are available but are expensive as they are imported. They tend to sold on the roadside in packs rather than in the market. Lemons and oranges are both green.
Easily obtainable items in shops include canned fish (mackerel, sardines, tuna), corned beef, canned hot dogs and other meat but never pork based (I’ve managed to avoid the chicken or beef luncheon meat so far and the small tins marked canned mutton), baked beans, tomato paste, jam, pasta, rice, cream cracker type biscuits, porridge oats and vegetable oil.
Frozen meat and fish can be purchased from cold stores (haven’t done this yet) and, of course, live poultry and the odd goat is always available.
To add some further variety, there are the petrol station shops. Depending on what stock has come their way, they may offer Cadbury’s chocolate, Kit-Kats (fortunately the shops are air conditioned, British chocolate does not fare well in tropical Africa), canned sweet corn, kidney beans, mayonnaise, Heinz vegetable salad, breakfast cereals, cheese, butter and foreign biscuits (we have recently found a supply of Dutch spiced spekulaas biscuits and are fairly rapidly getting through the stock).
To get much more, really needs a trip to Accra. There is a supermarket with a vast range of imported and breathtakingly priced produce near the VSO office and Shoprite, a South African chain has just opened its first branch in Ghana, on the Koforidua side of town. For supplements to local goods like spices, sauces, Coleman’s mustard and European style bakeries Accra is fine, but it is not practical or affordable for a weekly shop.
For breakfast I alternate between porridge and bread fried in egg. The porridge is Quaker oats bought in a resealable tin. The local ant population has a knack of finding its way through anything short of a hermetic seal. Fresh or indeed liquid milk of any kind is almost unheard of in Ghana. Evaporated milk from Ideal or other brands is used in hot drinks and after that its dried milk. I use the dried which is fine for cooking and just add a heaped dessert spoon to the porridge as I’m making it. According to the tin it is packed with vitamins and apparently it can be turned into yoghurt. Eggs are sold individually in the market, current price 12 pesewas each. Bread is widely available and tends to be sweeter than at home. This is not so good for sandwiches but is not a problem for toast or frying in egg. I drink hot chocolate, usually Milo, rather than instant coffee or tea. At the weekend I have ground coffee from Accra which I brew in a small metal pan and pour out through a small sieve.
Lunch tends to be something picked up in town or a meal at the Ghana Commercial Bank’s restaurant with Dan.
In the evenings I often have pasta with sauce. Tuna, olives (a jar from Accra), tomatoes, garlic, onions or a Bolognese made with corned beef (better than it sounds). Chilli is an option (also corned beef based). Sometimes I have something cold with tomatoes and cucumber and a rice or pasta salad. I have made risotto with canned mushrooms. There is a range of very good stock cubes, particularly the Maggi ones. Soups tend to work well - thick vegetable ones with mashed yam to give extra body or tomato and dried bean. Just what you need on these cold, 20oC+ February nights! Fish cakes or corned beef hash with yam are good. I only have gas rings and no oven, but the fridge/ freezer means that if I make a large quantity I can freeze part for another day. I don’t often have dessert. There is always fruit and biscuits.
Tonight I’m going to see what I can do with South African dried soya mince. It says its lamb biryani flavour.
I am fortunate in that Koforidua offers a wide range of foodstuffs in its markets and shops. In Accra almost everything is available – at a price. Ho benefits from being near the Togolese border and sees some fruit and vegetables that we don’t. In the north, the variety is poorer although, from what I saw of it, Tamale does pretty well.
The market in Koforidua is large. Tomatoes, onions, garlic, ginger, cabbage, green beans, carrots, cucumber, green peppers, chilli peppers and spring onions are easily found and instantly recognisable. Potatoes can often be found in small (relatively) expensive quantities. Cauliflowers and aubergines are very rare indeed but huge avocadoes are available from time to time. Less familiar items are garden eggs (yellowish, auberginish and nt surprisingly egg-shaped), ochre, cocoa yam leaves (large limp leaves, not unlike spinach), cassava, plaintain and yam. Plantain is like a large banana but fried or boiled and used as a vegetable. Yam looks like a small wooden log. Once cooked it’s like a very starchy, very bland potato. With suitable flavouring it makes a fine potato substitute and costs a lot less than the real thing. Cassava is similar to yam.
There are oranges, bananas (smaller than those at home, but with a good taste), pineapples, coconuts, (lumpy) lemons, papaya and (seasonally) mangoes. Apples are available but are expensive as they are imported. They tend to sold on the roadside in packs rather than in the market. Lemons and oranges are both green.
Easily obtainable items in shops include canned fish (mackerel, sardines, tuna), corned beef, canned hot dogs and other meat but never pork based (I’ve managed to avoid the chicken or beef luncheon meat so far and the small tins marked canned mutton), baked beans, tomato paste, jam, pasta, rice, cream cracker type biscuits, porridge oats and vegetable oil.
Frozen meat and fish can be purchased from cold stores (haven’t done this yet) and, of course, live poultry and the odd goat is always available.
To add some further variety, there are the petrol station shops. Depending on what stock has come their way, they may offer Cadbury’s chocolate, Kit-Kats (fortunately the shops are air conditioned, British chocolate does not fare well in tropical Africa), canned sweet corn, kidney beans, mayonnaise, Heinz vegetable salad, breakfast cereals, cheese, butter and foreign biscuits (we have recently found a supply of Dutch spiced spekulaas biscuits and are fairly rapidly getting through the stock).
To get much more, really needs a trip to Accra. There is a supermarket with a vast range of imported and breathtakingly priced produce near the VSO office and Shoprite, a South African chain has just opened its first branch in Ghana, on the Koforidua side of town. For supplements to local goods like spices, sauces, Coleman’s mustard and European style bakeries Accra is fine, but it is not practical or affordable for a weekly shop.
For breakfast I alternate between porridge and bread fried in egg. The porridge is Quaker oats bought in a resealable tin. The local ant population has a knack of finding its way through anything short of a hermetic seal. Fresh or indeed liquid milk of any kind is almost unheard of in Ghana. Evaporated milk from Ideal or other brands is used in hot drinks and after that its dried milk. I use the dried which is fine for cooking and just add a heaped dessert spoon to the porridge as I’m making it. According to the tin it is packed with vitamins and apparently it can be turned into yoghurt. Eggs are sold individually in the market, current price 12 pesewas each. Bread is widely available and tends to be sweeter than at home. This is not so good for sandwiches but is not a problem for toast or frying in egg. I drink hot chocolate, usually Milo, rather than instant coffee or tea. At the weekend I have ground coffee from Accra which I brew in a small metal pan and pour out through a small sieve.
Lunch tends to be something picked up in town or a meal at the Ghana Commercial Bank’s restaurant with Dan.
In the evenings I often have pasta with sauce. Tuna, olives (a jar from Accra), tomatoes, garlic, onions or a Bolognese made with corned beef (better than it sounds). Chilli is an option (also corned beef based). Sometimes I have something cold with tomatoes and cucumber and a rice or pasta salad. I have made risotto with canned mushrooms. There is a range of very good stock cubes, particularly the Maggi ones. Soups tend to work well - thick vegetable ones with mashed yam to give extra body or tomato and dried bean. Just what you need on these cold, 20oC+ February nights! Fish cakes or corned beef hash with yam are good. I only have gas rings and no oven, but the fridge/ freezer means that if I make a large quantity I can freeze part for another day. I don’t often have dessert. There is always fruit and biscuits.
Tonight I’m going to see what I can do with South African dried soya mince. It says its lamb biryani flavour.
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