Ghana’s Kenkey
Ghana’s Kenkey: Rice may be the best, the most nutritive and unquestionably the most widespread staple in the world but in Ghana, especially in the Capital Accra, Kenkey is the number 1 staple. Books may feed your mind, God your soul, but kenkey feeds the body! From it’s humble beginnings as maize or corn to it’s processing into a fermented bomb of sheer carbohydrate, kenkey remains as unpretentious and unfussy a staple as a wild rose.
Mahatma Gandhi once remarked that “There are people in this world so hungry that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.” Hungry Ghana under dictatorship and military rule in the 70s probably thought Kenkey a meal as affordable as potatoes in the West was indeed manna from heaven. Fast forward 20-30 years on and this fast growing successful country could now give any country a run for their money. The pot bellies you now see on Ghanaian men? They probably owe to kenkey.
5 years ago a trip to Accra brought about the opportunity to see the making of Ghana’s kenkey from scratch. I documented the process in a short video below.
It is a probabily a truth universally acknowledged that a Ghanaian in possession of a good appetite must be in want of Kenkey. That craving is a good thing. In matters of culinary art, craving creates wonders. This post is not so much about kenkey on its own, but the sheer variety of things that go with kenkey to create wonders.
Kenkey with fish, shrimps and kpakpo shito and shito din
Kenkey with sardines
Kenkey with cornbeef and fried eggs
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