When I first came to GH, I spent a lot of time taking pictures of food. Yep- food. It was just so refreshing to see the "real" versions of so many of my favourite dishes after years of being forced to cope with the budget versions. These pictures of food were slightly awkward to explain whenever people decided to look through the pics on my camera. Since I don't generally like to advertise the fact that I blog to randoms, I eventually resorted to just saying "a friend wanted me to take pictures of what Ghanaian foods look like" as a means of explanation. It's not technically a lie....Well I realised that my long-promised "food" post had not materialised (sorry Afrocentric!) and so what better time to remedy this than now?
Tangerines: When I first saw these, I was like "why is this woman trying to palm us off with unripe fruit?" Let's just say that I finally saw the light when I took them home and got under their bright green skin. Yummy's not even the word. Here they are in my fruit basket with one random "normal"-coloured tangerine.
Oranges: I have a sliiiiiight obsession with oranges but I've never really taken to English oranges- too tasteless. In the ATL, the oranges from the Korean supermarket were a fave because they tasted "like Ghana oranges". So here's the real thing and they're a dream for a lazy cow like me because you can get them ready-peeled! This is a
before and the
after after I completely demolished it, complete with lip-gloss marks....
Alasa/ Adaswa: I literally screamed when I saw these. I remember them from when I was little and I hadn't had them since my mum randomly brought a couple back from a holiday when I was around 12/13. When ripe, these are quite sweet and they have about 4 shiny black seeds inside each one. Smallish in size, if you chew the flesh for a while it turns into
chewing gum! How cool is that? They can also be incredibly sour when not fully ripe; kinda like any sweet from the sour section in a pick 'n' mix. Everybody tells me they're called
alasa but I swear down I used to call them adaswa or something like that when I was little. Can anybody help me out with this?
Mangoes: I kept meaning to take pics of the small Ghana mangoes you rarely find in the UK but um, they never lasted that long. Ghana mangoes are my all-time favourite fruit so that's my excuse.
Pineapples: Eating pineapples in Ghana makes you steadily pissed that you've been spending money on impostor fruit that can't hold a candle to the ones here. Sweet is not even the word. Amaaaazing and the taste is simply sensational. Cutting pineapples, however, is
not the business....
So here we are for starters and hopefully I won't take the piss in producing a part two!
17 opinionated people have something to say:
FINALLY!!... The long awaited post on food glorious food! But seriously, I enjoyed reading it. However, I can't help but feel a little annoyed at having to make do with the london knock off versions of all these lovely fruits you have written about. Anyway, please please please keep the posts coming. Im excited to read more about original Ghanaian food!
BTW: I know it to be Alasa. Can anybody else confirm?
Yay!! Somebody else tajes pictures of Ghanaian food - I'm not alone :)
Pineapples and mangoes from Ghana are waay better than anything M&S glorifies in a sexy advert.
I've always called them alasa - never heard them called anything else.
@Afrocentric Alright alright. Stop making me look bad!
@Last Born Child Good to know I'm not alone. The funny thing is I actually think M&S import their pineapples from GH in order use in their drinks and fruit salad. I swear I've seen this on their labels before.
Mmmmmm!
When I was last in Ghana I gorged on the tangerines, Mangoes and unbeatable Pineapples. You just don't GET them like that over here! I was violently sick for a week! It was awful!
Would I do it again?
HELL YEAH!
@ Last Born Child...this isn't just any Pineapple, this is a GHANAIAN pineapple....Mmmmmm. You must admit the adverts are good. :D
well thanks for making me crave some Ghana pineapple juice complete with ginger, thanks :-p
@ Sankofa - I'm checking the labels next time I'm in M&S and preparing to be surprised
@ Nsoroma - Lol. M&S ought to be ashamed of themselves for all that food porn. They make me walk 10 minutes in the cold with no coat to pick up dessert :).
@Friday's Afro You're more than welcome!
@Last Born Child I would laugh but why have I done the same walk from Charlton to Blackheath just for some rice pudding? SMDH
i'm literally salivating reading dis post. this is real fruit!
u forgot 2 put yoyi(blackberrys on der). im hoping thats gonna b on ur nxt post.
btw alasa was my favourite fruit when i lived in Ghana. Thanx for da memories!
@Ms Bossman You're welcome. Is this the Ms. Bossman I think it is? If so, welcome to LALI!
Sorry for my bad english. Thank you so much for your good post. Your post helped me in my college assignment, If you can provide me more details please email me.
Ohh men!..This great. I just got off the phone with my Sis and we were looking for the english name for "yoyi" and "alasa" I liked alasa too. Another fruit you missed was guanabana link below
Some called it "aluguntuguu or sweet apple or "apree"
"http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=guanabana&rlz=1R2ADFA_enCA338&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=
While at it..I think I miss muscatella too!..
The English name for yoyi is Tamarind.
cool blog. came across it by chance as i was looking up the English name for Alasa. comments as follows:
Afrocentric! You are right about there being other names for 'alasa'. Alasa is actually Ga. In Fanti, (Mfantse), we call it adesima. Some other enthnic groups (not sure which) call it 'adasa'. English for alasa/adesima? not sure but have come across 'monkey apple', which i disagree with. any opinions on this out there?
P.S. 'aluguntugui' is sour sop in English
Alasa is called white star apple people I just found out
@carob 00 ... the English name for yooyi is Velvet Tamarind (Dialium indum), tamarind is a different fruit. I'm actually snacking on yooyi and mangoes as i type, i was searchung for the nutritional content of yooyi and this blog comes up, and i'm glad it did ... :D ...
When I lived in Ghana, they translated the name for adesima/alasa to monkey apple for me. Looking it up online, though, it looks like the fruit is green, whereas in Ghana I only saw orange ones.
Great post! Making me nostalgic...
What is the local fruit "sho)" called? Any help?
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