A much-beloved staple in West and Central Africa is a root-based dish called fufu. Before cassava was introduced to Africa, fufu was made out of cocoyams or plantains. It originates from Ghana. Shortly before we left the U.S., we were introduced to this Ghanaian food when we read a book by Chinua Achebe called Things Fall Apart. We had no idea how popular this food still is. Fufu is to Ghanaians what mashed potatoes are to traditional American cooking.
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| This is the cassava plant. You see it growing everywhere in Ghana. |
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| Cassava roots are peeled by hand. |
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| The women are very adept at preparing the cassava tuber....... | and many children are, too. |
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| Cassava is boiled until it turns into a thick dough-like mixture. |
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| Then it is ferociously stirred, which takes two people. One pounds with a long wooden pestle....... | the other skillfully reaches in and moves it around in between the pounding. It's pretty amazing to watch. |
Once smooth, the mixture is shaped into smaller balls, which are usually served in soup and served with meat or fish. How do you eat it? With your right hand, break off a piece and make a small indentation in it. Use the indentation to scoop up some of the soup and place it in your mouth. Don't chew, just swallow it whole! We haven't tried fufu (yet). The texture is supposed to be a lot like gum, but a bit more doughy. Fufu is basically flavorless, so the soup or stew is usually very spicy. I'm thinking Elder Stoker might just stick to mashed potatoes and gravy.
