Ewe Food
Food is
imbedded deeply in Ghanaian culture, especially among the Ewe. Cooking dinner usually begins about mid day. The Ewe
do not eat lunch, so their dinner is a big meal and a time for
friends and family to gather and bond. Food is more than just
cooking and eating. Cooking is an art, eating is
social, and the food is prepared with time and care, full of rich
spices and flavors. Pepe or ground nut soup, fufu, and jollof
rice are three of the most common and traditional Ewe foods.
Soup is
essential to Ewe meals. In fact, the main dish in most Ewe
dinners is soup of some sort. Peanuts or other nuts
are used a base to provide flavor and texture. Other ingredients
include all of or a variety of okra, chopped onion,
salt and pepper, tomatoes, pimentos, curry powder, local peppers,
garden eggs, garlic, and more. Meats in this soup usually include
smoked fish; tuna and salmon are popular choices.
Cow skin, crabs, cow bone, and chicken are other options. The
head of the fish is considered the most delicious part, and
sometimes soups will have a few fish heads and no bodies.
Fufu is
also a popular dish among the Ewe. In southern Ghana, fufu is
made of cassava and plantains. It is pounded with a
wooden mortar and pestle until it turns into a big ball. This
ball is called fufu. The fufu must be turned
periodically during the pounding of it so that all of the lumps
are pounded out. Usually one person rotates the bowel while the
other pounds the fufu with the big wooden stick.
Jollof
Rice is another traditional Ewe dish. There are several different
variations of it. A standard recipe includes medium
onions, a garlic clove, chopped tomatoes, chicken stock, oil,
peppers, and of course, rice. Jollof rice can be found as a
vegetarian dish, or with chicken.
During
our home stays in Ho, a Ewe dominated part of Ghana in the Volta
region; we had the opportunity to try some traditional Ewe meals,
all of which were a form of soup. Below are a few photographs of
the different soups we tried.
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