CHAPTER 7 West Africa: Nigerian American and Ghanaian American Food Practices


Traditional Food Practices Food practices and cuisines of Nigeria, Ghana, and other West African countries center on availability and acces- sibility of a wide variety of indigenous foods. Farming, including home-grown foods, was part of the traditional lifestyle for many parts of West Africa, and many families continue to grow their own food, raise livestock, and hunt and fish. Tere is a division of labor in food production, planting, and cooking. Women do most of the preparation and cooking of foods, planting of vegetables, and removing weeds, while men do the more rigorous work of planting, clearing of farms, hunting, and fishing. Leafy greens, tubers and root vegetables, and beans are among the many crops grown in tropical parts of West Africa, even in grassland areas that favor cereal grains (millet, sorghum, wheat). Fish is a staple in the coastal areas. Grains, animal-based protein foods (chickens, cows, goats, fish, bush meat or wild game, and others), oils (palm oil, coconut oil, groundnut oil), and tropical fruits are commonly consumed.1,3 As in every food culture, West African foods and diets


have been influenced by interaction with foreign traders (e.g., Arab and European traders), migrants, sailors, explor- ers, and people from other parts of Africa. Tese interactions introduced new plants and animals and opened new food- ways that have been adopted in many West African cuisines. Examples include cassava and maize from South America, rice from Southeast Asia, turmeric (curry) from India, and other foods brought by European explorers (black and pinto beans, groundnuts, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes).24 Many popular traditional dishes consumed in Nigeria and Ghana have variations throughout West Africa, prepared with similar ingredients (e.g., tomato, onions, oil, pepper) with slight differences in preparation, cooking methods, additional ingredients, and serving style. Te same food, dish, or meal also has different names among the many Ghanaian and Nigerian tribal peoples and languages.


Common Foods and Meals in Nigeria and Ghana


Cuisines in West Africa are revered for their special ingredients and flavors and contain a variety of plant foods, animal products, and spices. A typical meal in West Africa consists of a starchy base served with one-pot soup or sauce. Te soup or sauce is prepared with vegetables (grown locally


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or purchased through trade) with added palm oil, spices, fish or meat (or both), and legumes. Boiled and mashed starchy tubers and root vegetables (e.g., cassava, yams, plantain) are served in parts of West Africa and Central Africa along the Atlantic coastline. Te main starchy staples of West Afri- cans farther from the coastlines, especially in the northern Savannah and Sahel regions (northern Ghana and northern Nigeria), are sorghum, millet, wild millet, maize, guinea corn, and sometimes rice, which are boiled and eaten with sauce; boiled and made into a porridge and eaten with milk, soup, or stew; or cooked in combination foods. Te heavy use of starchy ingredients makes West African cuisine carbohydrate rich.24 West African food staples like tubers, root vegetables,


grains, and legumes serve as the bases that complement various Nigerian and Ghanaian dishes. When prepared, served, and eaten with hearty soups and stews or in other dishes, these staples provide the calories and key nutrients needed for energy and health. Many food staples are easily affordable and palatable to most West African people. As ingredients, they are processed with different methods, prepared in different ways, paired with different ingredi- ents, and called different names according to geographical locations, resulting in the many different dishes consumed among the countries’ ethnic groups and cultures. Staples and other foods that predominate in West African cuisines are listed in Box 2 on page 148.24 One-pot dishes in West Africa are often referred to as


pottage (or potage). Tey are typically made with starchy tubers like yam or with legumes and cereal grains with other ingredients added and mostly eaten at lunch and dinner. Dishes served as porridge have a watery texture and are typ- ically made with cereal flour (maize, rice, wheat, sorghum, or millet) with milk and sugar. Tese dishes are typically eaten as breakfast food , or they are given to children who are not yet eating solid food or used as weaning food for children.25 As the most common cooking oil, red palm oil gives dishes its distinctive red-orange color, flavor, and texture. Palm oil is also used to prepare an emulsion of oil


(known as ngu in Igbo), akanwu (potash, a seasoning with a high sodium content), water, and condiments in the preparation of ugba salad. Despite being the most common, affordable, and flavorful cooking oil in West Africa, palm oil is high in saturated fat.


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