Elder & Sister Cosgrave: Kookin' in Kumasi

One of the first things that most people ask and the big curiosity of our grandchildren is, “What is the food like?” or “What do you eat?”.

Just to give everyone peace of mind, we eat mostly what we eat at home. Surprise! Surprise! This is a picture of our pantry. It looks pretty much the same as ones at home.

Fresh eggs, anyone?

The fruit that is most common here is mango and pineapple, and they are delicious. We buy fresh fruits and vegetables at local roadside stands.

These guys want me to by coconut.

Avocado comes in and out of season as well as apples. We can’t get fresh berries, but we can buy them frozen. The local bread is quite good, and we can buy butter, honey and jam, and tuna fish. We buy frozen chicken and freshly ground hamburger called mince. I haven’t found pork. Bacon is available, but it is pricey. I haven’t seen ham, but we can find some canned ham that is called ham. I have only bought it once. We even had whole turkey for Christmas and Thanksgiving.

Of course there is the local food. Some is quite different and those are the ones you hear rumors about. The favorite and staple foods are banku, fufu, kenke, and rice in all its shapes and flavors. You have plain rice, fried rice, and jollof rice. You have grilled chicken and fried chicken. (By the way we have a KFC here in Kumasi.) Banku is cassava that is cooked in a large pot and stirred forever until it is the consistency of play dough. It is formed into balls and is served with Okre stew (soup) and ground nut (peanut)soup. Both of those soups are very tasty. And fufu is usually served with a light soup with chicken or ground nut soup.

Everyday these ladies across the street from the mission home make kenke and fried fish. Please note the large bowl. Sometime they use bowls that resemble a witches' caldron. Also note the charcoal in the bowl and the log burning under the bowl. This is a fairly common scene as you drive along the streets everywhere. They take their product to the market to sell.

Veronica forming banku into balls

Veronica stirring banku.

Fufu is a very interesting food. I can’t imagine anyone thinking of it. They take yam, or cassava, or plantain, boil it then put it in a large wooden bowl-like container and then get a large pole and start pounding it. A person, called the driver, sits by the wooden container and folds the dough, occasionally splashing some water in it and the person with the large pounding pole called the pounder, smashes it with a pole. This goes on forever…maybe an hour or so, until it is the consistency of bread dough. It is then formed into balls. Kenke is maize and is usually served with fish. All of these are eaten with your fingers. I like to eat my fufu with a spoon.

Elder Robinson helping Veronica pound fufu

Elder Bradley (pounder) and Elder Robinson (driver)
making fufu.

Elders and Sisters eating their last Ghanain meal at the Mission Home. Using their fingers of course!

The President and Sister Halladay enjoying a pasta dish at a local restaurant.
I am there too and so is Elder Halladay -:)

We have tried all of them. Fufu is ok and I am not a fan of the others. Mike likes them all. The rice is very good-some spicey, some plain. There are other things like fried yam which resembles French fries, and they are really good. There is a bean and vegetable dish called red, red that is very good and many other variations. The people here eat a lot of dried and smoked fish. I have put that on my “I-won’t-ever eat list”along with snails and grass cutter.

Snails are called the chiefs's food because they have no bones. We are no chief.
These babies are as big as your foot! Ask Melanie. Some missionaries who have tasted it says they taste like rubber dirt!

I always have veronica cook the tilapia outside.

We have 3 nice grocery type stores. Several small stores carry some Costco things like Kirtland chicken, and Jif Peanut butter. Sour cream is hard to find, but we can find most everything we need. We have no fresh milk. But we can find Snickers candy bars, Oreos, and Mentos!

I can find such snacks and drinks.

Mike enjoying a chocolate pudding snack pack..

Many of the natives cook outside on small stoves resembling a “y “ in shape with charcoal fire. Or they cook in large caldron type bowls. Of course some people have indoor cooking on small gas stoves and ovens. Our missionaries have a 4-burner stove top but no oven.

So just incase you are worried about our diet, suffice it to say I haven’t lost any weight. Veronica cooks when we have large missionary gatherings. She make Ghanaian food that is very nice, She makes great fried rice and a Ghanaian rice and bean dish called Waakye (Wachee). She makes a tomato sauce with onion and ginger to put on it that is very tasty. I could tell about many foods that are very good and not weird, but it would be hard to explain them all.

Veronica preparing one of her many yummy Ghanaian meals.

Pots of spaghetti ready for hungry missionaries.

This is a Chinese market. Note the cut up meat on the floor.

If you think Ghanaian food is yucky, you should see what we can find at the Chinese store!

We also have 2 nice hotels that have very nice buffets, a nice Chinese restaurant in another hotel, a good Indian restaurant, and of course there is Big Daddy’s and Aboude’s -places to get a good hamburger and Piri Piri where we get pizza. It’s not Papa John’s, but it is ok. So that is that. We are doing just great-no food worries. We will probably return home fat and sassy!

For the 4^th of July we had a couples conference. We are blessed to have 4 very energetic, dynamic, and incredible couples serving here with us. We met together at the mission home for a very American cook out. We had hamburgers cooked on the charcoal grill, potato salad, potato chips, and corn on the cob. We topped it off with strawberry shortcake. As you can tell we are really suffering.:)

Red, White, and Blue

Grilling the hamburgers is always the men's job. Elder Wardle, President Cosgrave, Francis, Elder Halladay (in the trees), and Elder Renfroe

After dinner we had Abraham Donyina and his wife Grace come speak to us. He is an historian and friend of the Ashanti King and also a member of the Church.

He gave an interesting history of the Ashanti Kingdom. The Ashantis (Asante) are the people who are the “original” Ghanaians. Kumasi is the capital of the Ashanti Region of Ghana. The Ashanti King has a lot of power and is probably next to the president of Ghana in power; maybe more influence than real power. After Abraham’s presentation, he bore a strong testimony of his conversion. It is always such a faith-builder to hear these wonderful people’s quest for the truth.

Renfroes, Woods, Halladays, and Wardles

The next day we had waffles for breakfast and then had a short devotional. We then headed to the palace for a tour. There were hundreds of people sitting outside waiting to have an audience with the king to tell their grievances. It was a beautiful sight to see the people all in their native dress sitting patiently for their turn.

After our tour, we ladies went shopping, of course. You can’t get together without shopping. The men were on their own and they went to KFC! That’s all the fun they could come up with. There is a cultural center in town where the traditional arts and crafts of the Ghanaians are made, displayed, and sold. But this month, many of the craftsmen from the surrounding areas have come to participate in a cultural fair so we had more shops to visit than we had time for.

Afterwards, we met back at the mission home and shared some of our thoughts and lessons we have learned while here. It was a very wonderful time and we learned much from one another. We ended our conference with dinner at the Golden Bean Hotel. It was great to get together and to get to know one another better.
It has been such a blessing to be here with them as we work together to build the Kingdom of God here in Ghana. We cannot put into words how much good these wonderful couples do. They are truly a blessing. So if there are any of you out there who want an amazing life-changing experience, come join us. The office couple will go home in March and the nurse in April. Just let us know :).

P.S.