So I was contemplating what I would write about this week then is dawned on me. Duh. I'm a dietitian. Working on nutrition stuff here. And I've barely spoken about the food at all. So this week is all about food.
In general Ghanians have a very starch based diet. Common staples are rice, pasta, yams (which aren't orange) and cassava (similar to potatoes). And these staples are consumed in the highest amount at each meal. Seriously. It's unreal how much starch everyone eats here. And like I said earlier- very little protein. I eat 2 pieces of chicken at my meals and Belinda, our chef, thinks I'm insane. Traditionally Ghanians process their starches heavily as well. Not in the sense that we think of processing. No cheese-its here, but they will leach all of the starch and water out of cassava and call it ampesi, or ferment corn meal all day and call it banku. They will also mash cassava with plantains into a very sticky mixture and call it fufu. A favorite of one of the nurses at the nutrition center, in fact she claims that she doesn't actually have a baby in her belly, it's just a lot of fufu. The staples here are not eaten alone, however. There are a number of different soups and stews that are very popular ways of eating your protein and vegetable servings, most of which can be very spicy depending where you get it or who is making it. Other popular local dishes are grilled or fried tilapia and waakye (pronounced 'wa-chee').
I took pictures of everything I ate this week, starting Tuesday evening when I got the idea. Most of the food we eat at the guest house is Amercanized Ghanaian food, and I didn't really realize exactly how Americanized it is until I started taking pictures so sorry but you'll be looking through a few pictures of pancakes as well.
Monday:
Wait! Monday? I thought you said you were starting with Tuesday evening? I know, that is when I got the idea and started my documentation but on Monday we had made mac and cheese and green beans as an obroni treat (very little dairy here- it goes bad to quickly) so I had to take a picture and send it to my mom (who was not nearly as amused as I was excited, can you blame her though? big deal, mac and cheese and green beans. yeah you go 6 weeks without cheese and let me know how you feel when you get it again)... anyway.
Tuesday:
Here was our evening meal. This was the portion for everyone and don't worry I smartened up later in the week and documented only my own. Here is some tomato stew (hands down my favorite thing here), fried rice, and fried chicken (also, everything is fried here.. lots of starch and fried things- and they are suffering from malnutrition.. it's kind of strange to me too).
Here are the left overs from an orange I had for dessert. Oranges grow naturally here and are so cheap (like 6 cents).
Wednesday:
Here's breakfast on Wednesday. Pancakes with banana slices and instant coffee.
Dinner on Wednesday. I only really eat twice a day since I'm to cheap and to nervous to eat the food on camp. You would be to if you felt as sick as I did a few weeks ago. Also when you walk up to the ladies grilling the fish on road side and request a piece, sometimes they have to wave the flies off first to be sure that's the one you want. Anyway Wednesday was ground nut (peanut) soup day. I'm not entirely sure how to make it but it's got chicken, eggplant, and okra in it and the broth is very peanutty. I'm a fan but I wasn't feeling very brothy this day so I just pulled out the good stuff. Again with plenty of rice. And I get strange looks when I only take one scoop.
After dinner was the real party. Part of a papaya (called paw paw here) and the greatest pineapple I've had in my life. You'll see through the week just how obsessed I am with it. And it's only like 30 cents for a whole one! Amazing!
Thursday:
Mmmm Thursday was my favorite breakfast. Omelet and fried plantain. Still with instant coffee though.
Something I learned very quickly is that in Africa if you are offered food you have to accept it. I'm sure you can assume, for obvious reasons, why this is. So I was hanging out at the nutrition center after weighing babies all day when one of the nurses offered my some of her snack. Ok, I accepted and took a small pinch of this popcorn and ground nut (peanut) mixture. She looked at me very offended by how little I had taken and pour half her bag into my hand. Later in the week she offered me some buicuits (short bread cookies) and when I only took one she informed me what an insult it was to take something offered to you in odd numbers, and put a second one in my hand. Good thing she is so forgiving when it comes to my insults.
Thursday for dinner was Belinda's award winner pasta salad. Delicious. And one of the few ways I will eat raw vegetables here. Along side of it, fried chicken.
After dinner- more paw paw, another orange, and plenty of more pineapple. I would consider myself a heavy fruit and vegetable consumer at home and since I don't really eat any raw vegetables or fruits without peels here these are the ones I go crazy on.
Friday:
Friday breakfast- egg sandwich and oatmeal. I wasn't really feeling the oatmeal so I scrounged in the kitchen for some fruit.
Instant coffee still.
Friday for lunch Bismac was having waakye and offered me some. This was my first taste of it and I loved it. Kind of a spicy rice and beans mixture. And I ate it with my hands. Actually hand. Right hand only. Left one is considered very dirty and rude to use with someone else's food.
Friday dinner was left over tomato stew and fried rice. Not complaining. Like I said its my favorite. I could eat it for days. And since I had a long, hard week.. I rewarded myself with the purchase of a pineapple on my way home.
Saturday:
Saturday breakfast was Indomie, a very popular street food made with ramen noodles, beans, vegetables, eggs, and on the street you get it with sardines :). This one Belina made for us, but you can get it road side very quickly and cheaply. Consider it Ghana's McDonald's.. sort of.. not as gross and evil (sorry, I'm still a dietitian). With it, instant coffee and more paw paw. I think I may be exposing myself as the fruit theif in the house..
Saturday I went to the movies and I didn't want to bore you with a picture of the American snacks that I paid way to much for so I'll just let you know that I did mindlessly snack on chips and candy during the movie. Even with all this Americanized Ghanaian food, I still needed to feel American-American for the afternoon.
Saturday dinner was leftover tomato stew again. Mmmm. Also pictured is a cup of leftover hot and sour soup from when some of the others in the house had gone to get Chinese earlier in the week. And the Lucozade I was talking about a few weeks ago. My electrolytes were happy again after this.
Sunday (today!):
Pancakes for breakfast. And instant coffee.
So that was a tour of my Ghanain meals for the week. Not pictured, but consumed often, grilled plaintain, cabbage stew, boiled yams, and this other greens and egg stew that is impossible to describe without eating it. And even then I don't know what's in it, but it's good, promise. And how could I forget Alvaro? I try not to drink it too much since I know 1 or 2 and week, will turn into 1 or 2 a day, will turn into as many as I can drink in one sitting. It's a soda that comes in pineapple, pear, and passion fruit. It's like heaven in a bottle and just writing about it makes me want to go out and get one. Maybe I'll go get one right now after all I haven't had one all week. There's proof of that. And maybe I'll get some pineapple while I'm out.
But wait! Where's the banku, and fufu, and all the Ghanaian foods you were describing at the top of this post?? In an attempt to make us feel a little more at home here we don't eat much of the local food unless we seek it out ourselves. And like I said, I'm nervous to do that without a chaperone. Also Belinda told me she will never serve me cassava since 'that's what poor people eat'. I will try anything that people I trust give me to try. I wish I had a picture of the road side tilapia and ampesi I had with Adam last week but you'll just have to trust me. I've also tried soup overpowered by ginger, fish stew, and yes, I've tried fufu. And I didn't get pregnant. That's all for this week. I'm running out of topics so ideas are welcome!
Best thing I saw carried on a head: A bunch of plantains. I don't mean like, a lot of them, well I kind of do, but I mean like, a bunch of them. Still attached to the branch.
Lights off this week: this week was terrible for lights off. All day last Saturday, and Sunday, and Monday, and half of Tuesday. It's not the lights off that I can't handle.. it's the lack of fans. And lack of phone charging (first world problem, I know, but what can I say.. my passport says America).
No comments:
Post a Comment