Putting My Stomach to the Test

Part of the African experience thus far has been the food, which I’m quickly learning can be quite different from what we’re used to. There are a lot of items that Westerners can’t really handle too well, not because of taste, but because it’s not up to our levels of sanitation and would mess with our stomach pretty badly. Buying food from street vendors is just as sketchy here as other places, but most of us have been doing it with no ill effects thus far. Some of our luck has been due to our conscious effort to only eat things that are cooked (or at least look cooked).

One local Ghanaian dish is called fufu. Yes I know, a silly name. It’s a little hard to describe, but it has the consistency of uncooked bread dough, meaning it’s very thick and heavy. When you order it, you get to choose which soup you want it in and what kind of meat to go along with it. So far I’ve only had the “light” soup, which has the consistency of a semi-thick spicy tomato sauce. The meat choices include the traditional cow, chicken or goat. Of course I had to order the goat (why come all the way to Africa and not?) my first time out.

That turned out to be a poor decision. For some reason that I still do not comprehend, the goat is served a little bit differently than the other two choices. They leave the skin on, which in my case included its hair and follicles. I’m told my face went pale, which is impressive because I’m not exactly tan to begin with. And just to make the experience that much more memorable, it is local custom to eat with only your hands. Of course one washes them beforehand like so.
Below is a picture of the dish with cow. I don’t yet have a picture of the goat because I was too busy worrying about my health, so I didn’t bring out the camera until the next time I ordered fufu. I didn’t feel like getting the goat again.

And here is proof that I actually did eat it Ghanaian style.
Most of the other food I’ve eaten here hasn’t been nearly this exciting, but I continue to be on the lookout for the local stuff. I’m guessing my enthusiasm will last only as long as my stomach will let me.