Ghana: In which I steer clear of marijuana soaked palm liquor and find myself in a musical empire
December last year found me sat in an Indian restaurant with a Ghanaian friend who said that if I ever made it to Ghana he would introduce me to a local drink which blends marijuana and alcohol. In order to tempt me told a story which ended with him naked in a car. I have, sadly not had the pleasure, but a quick Google revealed that Ed Sheeran has and “ended up sitting in an imaginary box for six hours.”
This seemed like the perfect way to start the armchair travels so I found a simple recipe: a bottle of Sprite, a bottle of Akpateshie (a distilled palm wine), and an ounce of weed. The Sprite was easy to find, but sadly the closest item my local African shop stocked was palm juice — a drink full of iron and riboflavin. So instead of spending the night naked and confused, I spent it ingesting vitamins that promise to give me healthy hair, skin and nails. I did, however find a bottle of Ghanaian cocoa liquor on a friend’s desk but she refused to let me have any, so it turned out to be a disappointingly sober trip.
Someone who has managed to get his hands on some Ghanaian alcohol is Al Anatsui, perhaps the world’s most famous bottle top artist, and a truly inspiring hero. I would love to know what he would do with my crown cap collection.
Another motivating artist who helped open my eyes to Ghana was Yaa Gyasi, whose first novel, Homegoing, tells the story of Ghana through the lives of eight generations. I was in awe of her confidence to embark on such a feat for her first novel and her ability to weave in everything from cocoa to slavery, and from American segregation to the Anglo-Asante wars.
Despite covering hundreds of years of history, the novel tackles many of the issues that confront us today, so it seemed in almost direct opposition to this week’s film Heritage Africa, which tackles the end of colonialism in a much more old fashioned way. It was made in 1989, but has something of the Carry-On movie style about it. It tells the story of one Kwasi Atta Bosomefi who anglicises his name to Quincy Arthur Bosomfield and abandons his culture and heritage. He is a pompous buffoon and as a result, the film ends up feeling terribly British, and I guess that is part of its appeal.
Part of the appeal of this week’s food was that it was so easy to find both the ingredients and the recipes! I am not sure, however, how authentically Ghanaian they were as they came from the site Meat Free Fitness. First up was Red Red Stew, so called because it is made with red beans, red onion, red chillies and red tomatoes. I accompanied it with Egusi and Spinach Stew. I have made Egusi before with melon seeds but this recipe called for pumpkin seeds which made it tastier and easier to source, still dry and a bit weird though! Finally we had the classic West African Jollof Rice which was fine, but I must admit I much preferred the version I made in Benin.
Ghanaian music, like Jollof, is a blend of different elements from all over the world. Even though Ghana has existed in some form or another since at least 300 AD, the British called it the Gold Coast during colonial rule when they traded in suffering and danger. This brought many kinds of music to the country which got woven together to produce high-life, a musical style that has grown and expanded and led to stunning songs like no condition is permanent. The Ghanaian diaspora is also worth mentioning here as, for example, the British-Ghanaian artist Stormzy has recently visited Ghana and made music with local artists. I have put together a playlist of some of my favourites, but with only a week to research such a varied musical empire, I am sure there are many more moments of genius to find …
OK! That’s it, I have to pack up and get ready to head off to the sunny beaches of Greece…
