abbigail01: How to eat fufu in Ghana, Africa

Filed under: Arts and Culture, Learning, Food and Drink, Africa, Ghana, Budget Travel

fufu, chicken, and groundnut soup in ghana in africa

When traveling, experiencing the food of a culture can be one of the most exciting parts of the journey. Not only can you learn a lot about a group of people by their dining etiquette, but eating itself is fun.

Recently, I was lucky enough to take a trip to Ghana in Western Africa where dining rules and the cuisine itself differ greatly from that of Western culture. One specialty that is a local favorite, as well as a dish on every visitor's list of foods to try, is fufu.

At first glance, fufu looks just like a lump of mashed potatoes sitting in some kind of soup. In your head you may picture yourself picking up a spoon, dipping it into the soft, creamy mound, and putting it into your mouth without a care in the world. Possibly it will taste buttery, and maybe there will even be some onions or chives in there.

If this is what you're thinking, then you have never actually experienced fufu.

Fufu is a cassava-based dish. Basically, the root-based plant is boiled in water then pounded down with a mortar and pestle. What you have now is a thick dough-like mixture that needs to be ferociously stirred, which usually takes two people, one pounding the fufu with the long, wooden pestle and the other reaching in and moving it around in between the pounding. As an outsider, I always found this a bit hard to watch, as it always looked like the person moving the fufu around was moments away from losing their arm.

Continue reading How to eat fufu in Ghana, Africa

How to eat fufu in Ghana, Africa originally appeared on Gadling on Sun, 02 Oct 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments