Cooking bananas are a group of banana cultivars in the genus Musa whose fruits are generally used in cooking. They are not eaten raw and are generally starchy. Many cooking bananas are referred to as plantains or 'green bananas'. In botanical usage, the term "plantain" is used only for true plantains, while other starchy cultivars used for cooking are called "cooking bananas". True plantains are cooking cultivars belonging to the AAB group, while cooking bananas are any cooking cultivar belonging to the AAB, AAA, ABB, or BBB groups. The currently accepted scientific name for all such cultivars in these groups is Musa × paradisiaca. Fe'i bananas from the Pacific Islands are often eaten roasted or boiled, and are thus informally referred to as "mountain plantains", but they do not belong to any of the species from which all modern banana cultivars are descended.
The Kwa languages, often specified as New Kwa, are a proposed but as-yet-undemonstrated family of languages spoken in the south-eastern part of Ivory Coast, across southern Ghana, and in central Togo. The Kwa family belongs to the Niger-Congo phylum. The name was introduced in 1895 by Gottlob Krause and derives from the word for 'people' (Kwa) in many of these languages, as illustrated by Akan names. This branch consists of around 50 different languages spoken by about 25 million people. Some of the largest Kwa languages are Ewe, Akan and Baule.
Ghana is a country of 33.48 million people and many native groups, such as:
Fufu is a pounded meal found in West African cuisine. It is a Twi word that originates from the Akans in Ghana. The word has been expanded to include several variations of the pounded meal found in other African countries including Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote D'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Benin, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, Angola and Gabon. It also includes variations in the Greater Antilles and Central America, where African culinary influence is high.
The modern Mfantsefo or Fante confederacy is a combination of Akan people and aboriginal Guan people. The Fante people are mainly located in the Central and Western regions of Ghana, occupying the forest and coastal areas. Their land stretches from the eastern part of western region in the west to Gomoa in the east. The Fante can be broadly categorized into two groups - the Borbor/Boka Fante(Akan ancestry) and the Etsii Fante(Guan ancestry). Over the last half century, Fante communities have been established as far as Gambia, Liberia, and even Angola due to fishing expeditions. Major Fante cities and towns in modern Ghana include Cape Coast, Saltpond, Elmina, Sekondi-Takoradi, Agona Swedru, Mankessim,Winneba,Shama,Apam, Komenda, Kasoa and Anomabo.
The Greater Accra Region has the smallest area of Ghana's 16 administrative regions, occupying a total land surface of 3,245 square kilometres. This is 1.4 per cent of the total land area of Ghana. It is the most populated region, with a population of 5,455,692 in 2021, accounting for 17.7 per cent of Ghana's total population.
The Ga-Dangbe, Ga-Dangme, Ga-Adangme or Ga-Adangbe are an ethnic group in Ghana, Togo and Benin. The Ga or Gan and Dangbe or Dangme people are grouped as part of the Ga–Dangme ethnolinguistic group. The Ga-Dangmes are one ethnic group that lives primarily in the Greater Accra region of Ghana.
Yam is the common name for some plant species in the genus Dioscorea that form edible tubers.
Ghanaian cuisine refers to the meals of the Ghanaian people. The main dishes of Ghana are centered around starchy staple foods, accompanied by either a sauce or soup as well as a source of protein. The primary ingredients for the vast majority of soups and stews are tomatoes, hot peppers, and onions. As a result of these main ingredients, most Ghanaian jollof rice, soups, and stews appear red or orange.
Ghana is a multilingual country in which about eighty languages are spoken. Of these, English, which was inherited from the colonial era, is the official language and lingua franca. Of the languages indigenous to Ghana, Akan is the most widely spoken in the south. Dagbani, Dagare, Sisaala, Waale, and Gonja are among the most widely spoken in the northern part of the country.
Asase Ya/Afua is the Akan goddess of fertility, love, procreation, peace, truth and the dry and lush earth in Ghana and Ivory Coast. She is also Mother of the Dead known as Mother Earth or Aberewaa.
A great variety of cassava-based dishes are consumed in the regions where cassava is cultivated. Manihot esculenta is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes.
The Akwasidae Festival is celebrated by the Ashanti people and chiefs in Ashanti, as well as the Ashanti diaspora. The festival is celebrated on a Sunday, once every six weeks.
The Odwira festival is celebrated by the chiefs and peoples of Fanteakwa District and Akuapem in the Eastern Region of Ghana. The Odwira Festival is celebrated by the people of Akropong-Akuapim, Aburi, Larteh, and Mamfe. This is celebrated annually in the month of September and October. The festival celebrates a historic victory over the Ashanti’s in 1826. This was the battle of Katamansu near Dodowa. It was first celebrated in October 1826.
In Ghanaian cuisine, banku and akple are swallow dishes made of a slightly fermented cooked mixture of maize and cassava doughs formed into single-serving balls.
Kokonte, also known as abeti3, lapiiwa, lapelawa or “face the wall”, is a staple swallow food eaten in some parts of Africa including Togo, Ghana and others. In Ghana, kokonte is eaten by most of the ethnic groups like the Ga, Akan, Hausa, Kokonte usually is brown, grey and deep green depending on the type of ethnic group that prepares the dish. Kokonte is usually prepared out of dried cassava or yam.
The Konkomba people are a Gur ethnic group residing mainly in the Northern, Brong Ahafo, Volta, Eastern and Greater Accra Regions of Ghana. Saboba, Chereponi and Nanumba Districts, Gushiegu and Karaga districts, East Mamprusi, Yunyoo-Nasuan, Zabzugu and Tatale-Sanguli districts in the Northern Region and the Nkwanta North and South Districts in the Volta Region are a few examples of administrative districts where Bikpakpaam are seen in huge populations. Other key districts where Bikpakpaam are in Ghana are Atebubu, Kintampo, Techiman and Yeji in the Brong Ahafo Region. According to the Act 280 of the Anatomy act of Ghana, the Konkomba people are the second largest ethnic group in the Northern Region of Ghana.
The Krobo people are an ethnic group in Ghana. They are grouped as part of Ga-Adangbe ethnolinguistic group and they are also the largest group of the seven Dangme ethnic groups of Southeastern Ghana. The Krobo are a farming people who occupy Accra Plains, Akuapem Mountains and the Afram Basin.
Aprapransa, originally called 'Akplijii ' is a Ghanaian GaDangme dish prepared by heat mixing roasted corn flour with a sacred GaDangme soup called Palm Nut Soup.
Light Soup is a local indigenous soup of the Akan people of Ghana. Originally formulated as a 'Tomatoes-Base Sea Fish Light Soup' called 'Nkra Nkra(or Aklor)' for fishermen at the coast of Accra, but over the course of time it evolved into a soup prepared with both 'fish and goat-meat', or 'fish and lamb-meat', or 'fish and beef', or 'exclusively the meat of the livestock of choice', and of which the GaDangmes(or Gas) call 'Toolo Wonu', but their neighbouring 'Akans' call 'Aponkye Nkrakra'. The delicious local indigenous 'Light Soup' of the GaDangme(or Ga) people paved the way for the formulation of GaDangme(or Ga) MEALS such as: (1) 'Komi Ke Aklo(or Aklor), Garnished With Cooked Blended Okro', (2) 'Banku Ke Aklo(or Aklor), Garnished With Cooked Blended Okro', (3) 'Yele(Chops of Boiled-Yam) Ke Aklo(or Aklor)', (4) etc., and similar meals of the 'Toolo Wonu' version, and to name a few: (1) 'Yele(Chops of Boiled-Yam) Ke Toolo Wonu', (2) 'Atomo(Chops of Boiled-Potatoes) Ke Toolo Wonu', (3) etc.
