day 8

So, I've been here for one whole week now and I can say that I've probably already tried all the dishes they could possibly serve us. Don't get me wrong, I like almost everything I eat but the taste is not very varied. I must admit that the kitchen is not very technological and isn't well-furnished: there is a fire on the ground, a stool and a couple of pots (see the picture). 

Normally, for breakfast we are served a couple of slices of bread with mayo and onions or toasted cornmeal porridge, or in the worst case scenario, just rice with sugar and a Lipton's tea bag: I haven't had a single coffee since I got here, nor is it possible to find it anywhere around here.

For lunch and dinner instead we have tomato and onion sauce or Tilapia soup (it's a fish) or Okra soup (it's a vegetable that seems like sweet pepper but tastes like eggplant) served together with one of these: Fufu (pounded cassava and plantain or pounded yam and plantain), Banku (cooked fermented corn dough and cassava dough), Timba (fermented corn and cassava dough), sweet potatoes, stewed yam or rice. Let's say they almost all taste the same. Let's talk about water and drinks another time.

So I should probably think that the Ghanaian cuisine doesn't have many diverse dishes, but actually today I tasted something new by chance. I was taking two kids home after school and their mother invited me to into their home. While I was showing them my camera and taking some pictures she came out with a dish of Kontomire, which is mashed up taro (cocoyam) leaves and spicy tomato sauce served with rice. As I had been hungry since I got here, I couldn't decline and let me say that it was really tasty! Well, not that different but at least it was something new. Anyway I'm sure Ghana is still hiding some recipes from me.

Enjoy your meal and please drink a coffee for me tomorrow!