|
Food
culture |
|
|
In Ghana, you always cook a
little more than you need for your own family. After all, you
never know who will drop by and you always need food for
unexpected guests and people coming in to greet you. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In Tamale, cooking is mainly
done on firewood, charcoal or gas. In 2010, a study was done
into the ways Ghaneans cook, including people in the
Northern region of Ghana, with Tamale as its capital. It was
found that 77% of people cook on firewood, 17% on charcoal
and 3% on gas, showing an increase -compared to previous
years- of gas and charcoal. Small percentages can be added
for other kinds of fuel. People also use waste material of
crops, like maize stems, and on a very small scale kerosene
and electricity are also used for cooking.
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Soup of the day.... |
|
Cooking for a wedding.... |
Charcoal is popular because
it can also be bought in small portions, relatively cheap.
If you don't have a lot of money, it's convenient to buy
just enough to be able to cook with for the day. Firewood
must be bought in relatively larger quantities and gas is
simply more expensive, even if it was just for the
investment of buying a gas cylinder and a gas burner.
Gas has only been used for cooking for a few decades now.
It's a new thing that many people have to get used to. It's
not considered safe, and in fear of gas explosions people
rather stick to the good old cooking on charcoal or wood.
Besides, cooking on gas is usually done inside, while social
life takes place outside, in the courtyard. And on top of
that, cooking outside is much more comfortable because of
the heat indoors. Imagine adding the heat of cooking to
that...
 Even
if you do cook on gas, you still need a stove for charcoal
or a fireplace. Gas is not always available in Tamale, so
every once in a while you still need an alternative. And as
there are regular power cuts, even households cooking on
electricity often need to switch to charcoal or wood.
But that's not the only reason everyone uses charcoal and
firewood. There are many traditional recipes that simply
must be cooked on coal or wood. The main reason for this is
the way the food is stirred. T-Z (which stands for Tuo,
‘food’ and Zafi, ‘hot’) and Banku, for instance, need to be
firmly stirred for quite a while. Not just by letting the
spoon float around lightly, but vigorous stirring, without
stopping. It's hard work, and to keep the pot in place, iron
rods are attached to the pot's handles. They come down to
the ground, and the woman stirring places her feet on them
firmly, to stop the pot from toppling over. This obviously
can't be done with a gas cooking range.
Besides, when you cook for many people, in pots big enough
to hide in and with spoons the size of oars, where else to
put your pot but between a couple of heavy rocks, over a
fire of wood?
T-Z, cornflour with water, is
Dagomba food par excellence.
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
For a wedding, you need
loads of food. It's incredibly heavy work.
|
|
You don't have to do this
alone: women take turns stirring..... |
There seems to be plenty of
charcoal and firewood around. You can buy it at every street
corner or from the women who sell it by going from door to
door. They carry huge piles of dishes with charcoal on their
heads, or large bundles of branches. Lorries full of fire
wood arrive in town daily, from all corners of the country.
There's never a day without charcoal or fire wood... but for
how long yet?
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
For the traditional way
of cooking, you need firewood every day. |
|
Woman selling wood |
|
|
|
Woman and
cooking |
|
|
It's the women who get up
before the break of day to light a fire and prepare food all
day long. You'll only find women in the cooking area,
because here in the north of Ghana cooking is a woman's
business exclusively. Many women also have to earn an
income, in addition to raising kids and running the entire
household. Not an easy task. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
