An injection of Ghanaian culture - Homowo Festival

I was invited to a Homowo Festival celebration yesterday. This is a celebration of abundant harvest after a famine that is celebrated annually by the Ga-Adangbe or Ga people of  Greater Accra every year in the month of August or September.


The main food behind this is maize.  I sampled a 'kpekpele' which is made of corn that is put though a drying, grinding, sieving and fermentation process. Palm oil is then added to it, which is what gives it its bright yellow colour. This was served with palm 'soup'. In Ghana 'soup' does not mean a vegetable-filled minestrone or well-blended pumpkin soup or well-chilled vichyssoise...soup normaly means a meat (usually goat) or fish or both cooked in a nut filled sauce and served with a myriad of starches that range from Banku to Fufu. I have sampled groundnut soup ( a peanut soup with meat or fish added) goat-soup, yes, I have eaten goat and this for a South African is not the norm, unless of cause if you are from the North-West or surrounds.
In this particular case it was a soup that had palm nut and beef knuckle with a smoked fish - which as it was explained, the norm would normally be smoked fish only. Interesting mix of flavours and textures I dare say but tasty. The kpekpele tasted a bit like what couscous would taste like if it were fermented and the soup was extremely rich - as any nut based soup would be.
The dessert was mini-doughnuts ( a bit of the Western flavour) with a tiger nut dessert. This is made from a tiger nut that is crushed and the milk extracted. This milk is then boiled with some sugar and gelatine to make a jelly-like dessert that can be had on its own.

It was great for me to learn about this part of the rich and diverse culture and more so to sample food I would never have tasted or associated with anything in particular.
It was a good way to celebrate an overabundance of the harvest indeed and yet another learning experience for me in this wonderful country.

While on the subject of food, there is great little restaurant that serves Ghanaian and other West African food is Buka, in Osu. It was my introduction to Ghanaian cuisine and although Ghanaians deride it as not being authentically Ghanaian it is a good way to sample the food of the region.

Buka Fine African Restaurant, Osu
(0302)782 953; 024 484 2464

Another restaurant where you will satisfy your palate if looking for the Ghanaian experience is;

Maquis Tante Marie
(0302) 778 914 (Labone)
024 014 5211 (Accra Mall)