Ghanaian Food Update

It's a rule of mine while traveling to try my best to immerse myself in the local food as much as possible and avoid all and any food I can find in the US. I'm off to a pretty good start. I have managed to eat only local Ghanaian foods. Here's a quick description of things I've tried. Thank you to Roshan for giving me a quick Ghanaian food overview before leaving!

Note: If you are on a no carb diet and love vegetables, the Ghanaian diet may be a little difficult to handle...

Chicken and Fried Rice (not sure if this is truly Ghanaian)


The fried rice is similar to Chinese fried rice just minus the soy sauce. The fried chicken is seasoned in what I think is red pepper. Great easy meal to start with in Ghana. Cost: 3.5 Cedi (1 Cedi ~ 0.75 US cents)

Waakye, Gari, Spaghetti, Fried Chicken



Waakye is rice and beans similar to rice and beans dishes found in Central and South America, but much heavier on the beans. Gari is fried and ground cassava. Spaghetti is simply noodles with no sauce though usually served plain with waakye and gari. The fried chicken was again seasoned with red pepper, so slightly spicy. Cost: 4-7 Cedi

Fried Plantains, Fried Chicken, Stew




If you've never had fried plantians, you don't know what you are missing! The Ghanaian version of fried plantains is a little different than the type that you'd find in Central and South America. It is a little frier and definitely not as sweet. Fried plantains are my favorite Ghanaian food that I've stumbled upon, so far. I've asked for just fried plantains as a meal. I don't know if the stew has a more official/descriptive name. It tasted like chilli and had beans and onions in it. It was very spicy, probably due to the red pepper that they use to season the fried chicken. Cost: 4-8 Cedi

Palava Sauce


Palava sauce is some kind of vegetable mixed with some red pepper and fish and made into a sauce. Sauce may not be the best description since it is not a pure of these ingredients and not really these ingredients sitting in a broth. Maybe stew is a better term. It is kind of like Indian food dishes and is used similarly. Palava sauce can be served on top of a bed of rice or eaten with Ampesi (steamed plantains or yams). The sauce is a little spicy and the vegetables add a nice refreshing taste to it. Roshan, THANK YOU for this recommendation. Cost: 2-8 Cedi

Here is a great website with probably more accurate descriptons of Ghanaian food.

More food soon!