Meeting in Ghana
Meeting in Ghana while on their summer vacations in West Africa, Ghanaian-born intercultures expert Gladys Abankwa-Meier-Klodt helped to make Stefan Meister aware of how strongly connected food, language and social practices are amongst many of the local population. Ghanaian cooking is a rather time-intensive undertaking, not only because the ingredients themselves often require hours of simmering, but because preparation time is often directly linked to the value placed on hospitality – one does not turn a visitor away simply because one is busy cooking.
An Itroduction to Ghanaian Cooking
Accordingly, recipes often call for the use of ingredients – ranging from bats and all manner of »bush meat« to fermented cornmeal and manioc – that can be prepared in various stages throughout the day. A guest drops in, cooking is interrupted to serve a »mineral«, as carbonated soft drinks are known locally, and then the process is continued where one left off.
From the specificities of the cooking pot to the ubiquity of a bottle of Pepsi (see picture above), with one small step, one embraces a whole world of intercultural interaction in Ghana.
A little bit of trivia: The Twi translation for the word bat is »lying in the soup, smiling«. Twi is the most widely spoken local language in Ghana.
