>Ghana Recommendations: Tampico Island

> I thought I’d recommend some Ghanaian favorites to you, my dear readers, over the next few weekends, starting with a drink.

Have you tried the new Tampico?

Tampico is a super sweet “juice drink” made in Ghana (but part of an American originated multinational company). Most probably it has more color and sugar in it than any fruit, but in this new version with the tantalizing name “Island”, Tampico has really reinvented itself and gone from chemical sweetened mix to…Island drink!

The rich flavored yellow drink poured over a glass full of ice cubes – to dilute the sugar somewhat – surely makes a Sunday sweeter.

Pic: They should have let me do the marketing in Ghana…Photo from my backyard.

Continue Reading

You may also like

>Website on Ghanaian Food

> Through Gayle Pescud‘s post on Global Voices on Ghanaian cuisine “You Are Invited”, I stumbled across Betumi, an extremely well-researched website on Ghanaian foods, created by obruni cum expert Fran Osseo-Asare.

Osseo-Asare writes on many (all?) different aspects of Ghanaian foods – the culture surrounding it, how to make fufu, grilled tilapia and Fante kenkey, as well as the ceremonial uses of Oto etc. The website is complemented by a couple of books (which I have not seen in Ghana) and importantly also features a blog! Latest updated on Thursday on the Ghanaian breakfast served to the Obamas in Ghana on their visit in July.

Osseo-Asare beautifully summarizes the Ghanaian kitchen like this:

I think of Ghanaian cuisine as a kind of culinary jazz. The pepper, tomatoes, and onions, and possibly the oil, form the rhythm section. The stew is one musical form, like blues, the soup and one-pot dishes are others. Like a successful improvisation, the additional ingredients vegetables, seeds and nuts, meat and fish harmonize and combine into vibrant, mellow creations. While Ghanaian cuisine is very forgiving and flexible, there are certain “chords” or combinations that go together, and others that do not. Part of mastering the cuisine requires learning these chords and developing the sense of what goes with what: gari or fried ripe plantain or tatale (ripe plantain pancakes) with red bean stew; kenkey with fried fish and a hot pepper sauce like shito; banku with okra stew; chicken with groundnut soup; soup with fufu; palaver sauce with boiled green plantain or yams or rice.

Read my other posts on Ghanaian foods aka culinary jazz here.

Pic: Jazz in Accra in July 2009.

Continue Reading

You may also like

>GhanaMade and Made in Ghana Magazine – A Trend?

> Recently, stores carrying products MADE IN GHANA have popped up all over the place, practically named GhanaMade. Reportedly, there is one on Spintex road, close to the Coca-cola roundabout, three in Tema (C1, C2 and C8) and one close to Accra Poly.

The friend who told me about it was very excited, and so was I. The time has come for Ghana to promote and buy its own products. Yesterday, I read about a magazine called Made in Ghana Magazine to promote products made in this beautiful country (Daily Graphic, unfortunately not on the web). Is it the same person behind both initiatives? Or are they just part of a trend?

Personally, I take agreat intrest in stuff made in Ghana and try to patronize it as much as only possible. In my home you’ll find for instance Ghanaian brown rice, spices, canned tuna, cocoa liquor, of course fruits and vegetables, but also furniture (some from Yenok) and cloths (which I posted on here).

So two days ago, equipped with a shopping bag, I made a visit to the small Tema Community 8 branch of GhanaMade (see pic). Unfortunately, I was not too impressed by the messy displays or choice of items (mainly Nestlé stuff that has a relatively low local feel, in my opinion) and nothing I haven’t seen before.

However, the stores are new, the initiative is excellent and I’ll give them a second chance soon. And I’ll keep you posted on the Made in Ghana Magazine.

Continue Reading

You may also like

>Does Gin Tonic Prevent Malaria?

> Have a couple of times come across the statement that the drink ‘Gin and Tonic’ prevents malaria since it contains quinine which is an antidote to malaria. That sounds so good. How fun is it not to cure yourself with alcohol?

But maybe it sounds too good to be true? Today, I decided to google the whole thing and came up with the following.

1. The quinine is part of the bitter tonic.
2. The drink came about as the early colonialists tried to mask the bitter quinine taste with gin.
3. To prevent malaria one needs to drink the equivalent of 67 liters of GTs per day according to the travel doctor here.

So the answer to my question is unfortunately NO, Gin and Tonics’ do not prevent malaria. Well, that is if you consume less than 67 liters a day.

Pic from cafepress.

Continue Reading

You may also like

>Return to Ghana

>
Bronx Princess Trailer from Yoni Brook on Vimeo.


So, I have been back in Ghana for a few days and already experienced horrible traffic, ants crawling on me in my bed and power black-out(s) – as well as a lovely high-life concert, seeing friends and eating a lot of sweet-tasting tropical fruit(s).

Sometimes, especially when outside of Ghana, it is difficult to believe that I acctually do live here. It is hard to explain how life in Ghana is like, it is hard to remember what the heat feels like, what it means to be a foreigner here, how much one can miss foods and items just because they are not available. How wonderful it is to greet your wide-smiling neighbor.

I got a tip today about a documentary film, The Bronx Princess, about a girl in the US who goes to see her father The Chief in Ghana over the summer after graduation. The trailers available (I posted both above) look really promising, I wish I could see it (lucky people in Sweden can see the whole documentary here).

Without even knowing what the documentary is like, I am guessing it will be hard for the Bronx Princess to choose where to live when her summer comes to an end and how to explain her time in Ghana to people who havent been here yet.

ps. I love the music sung by Akua Taylor in the trailers. Ghana’s next international star?

Continue Reading

You may also like

>I’m Back!

> Here’s some photograpic evidence of that I am now back in Ghana.

Pic taken yesterday on our terrace, wildly growing garden in back. Husband had prepared a good fish stew with boiled plantain. I had put on my beautiful print dress and pulled out a plastic chair.

So, yeah, I’m back in Ghana and I’m back on the blog.

Continue Reading

You may also like

>Best Time to Visit Ghana

>Sorry for my absence, I am traveling and have not forgotten about my blog, just been too busy to post. Plus, I am having technical problems with photos that I hope to solve very soon. I want to share my pics with you!

Anyways, while traveling in Sweden I am spreading the word about Ghana. I think I have talked four friends into coming to visit, and maybe sown a seed in a few more minds…

Swedish people want to know what it is like in Ghana (hot and different), what the food is like (spicy and yummy) and when the best time is to visit (any time, our seasons are not that pronounced).

Two more weeks here and I am enjoying being able to take long walks in the crisp climate, talk about Swedish stuff with my lovely Swedish friends and visiting my big family. And of course volunteering for the Ghanaian tourism board.

Continue Reading

You may also like

>Plantain at Work

> Now you might think I am all about fruits, well, that can’t be helped, because here is my fruit story for the day.

Yesterday afternoon, I was in a meeting. After 30 minutes or so everything comes to a stand still, we are waiting for someone to bring us a document. Bored, I glance out the window and see some green leaves. To be a bit funny, I turn to one of the guys in the room and ask:

– Are you the one growing plantain out there?

With a straight face, he answers me:

– No, it is the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation!

Only in Ghana.

Continue Reading

You may also like

>Smoothie for Breakfast

> The papaya (in Ghana “paw-paw”) in my garden, planted about one year ago, has started to give me ripe fruits every other day, and this is what I most often do with them.

I throw them in the blender, maybe with some juice, and here with some passion fruit. Run for a few minutes and voila, the best breakfast ever.

This post is part of my new tag Food and Drink. Hopefully I will follow up with more of these in 2009.

Continue Reading

You may also like