Introduction
The New Juaben Municipal Department of Agriculture, Ghana, embarked on promoting local foods. A demonstration was held on a dish of bean cake (kose) and moringa leaves.
In attendance were: all staff, Ghana Health Service Nutrition and Health Promotion Officers, Deputy Director of Women in Agricultural Development (WIAD), two officers from Accra, and Women Extension Facilitators from the municipality.
Below are excerpts of “edutainment” (education + entertainment) that followed:
Lydia: Ladies and Gentlemen, As we wait to taste moringa leaves with kose, some beautiful ladies will each present a sketch of a leafy vegetable. These vegetables are rich in nutrients, especially microelements and vitamins. However, consumption of these health-promoting leaves is reducing due to misconceptions and relatively longer cooking periods. You may call them ‘slow foods’ compared with fast foods on street corners. They are used in stews and soups. A minimal amount of fish or meat is required as opposed to the large quantity of meat used in preparing a television soup. (giggling in the room). Oh, you don’t know what television soup is? A television soup is a soup without green leaves in which fish pop up and dives, followed by somersaulting of meat, paragliding of crabs, and parachuting of mushrooms, repeatedly. (Laughter from the group).
Thank you, and enjoy the mini-drama and the food.
Gifty: I am Amaranthus, scientifically known as Amaranthus hybridus. The popular name in Ghana is alefu, a name borrowed from Hausa. My close relative is called torkuma in Ewe and fortete in Yoruba. You can find me in the Bible and also in Aesop’s Fables, where I am the envy of the beautiful rose flower because I am edible, thornless, and resilient. I am mostly found in stews but a good candidate for soups. Thank you.
Ivy: This is Cochorus olitoris, a member of the hemp family. It is known by various names, such as ademee in Ewe, demee in Adza, and ayoyo by the people of the interior savanna, all in West Africa. Our ancestors cultivated this crop in the Nile valley, and during their sojourn through various locations to their present settlements, women carried the seeds at the edges of their loincloths. Ayoyo and okro often join forces to prepare a slippery soup, which is served with a thick porridge of cereal flour. Go to any TZ (tuozafi) base in Ghana and you will enjoy ayoyo soup. Thank you.
Hellen-Mary: I represent gboma. That is the local name in the Benin Republic, from where the name spread to neighboring countries, Togo and Ghana. Gboma is one of the earliest vernacular words that found its way into the digital world of Google. When searched, one would find that its scientific name is Solanum macrocarpon. Its closest relative is garden eggs, but one should not make the mistake of eating gboma fruits. Gboma isn’t bitter and doesn’t need parboiling. It can be put in palm nut soup, but the common sauce is okro, embellished with red palm oil, dzomi. It goes well with banku, akple and kenkey. Thank you.
Christiana Bredu (C1): This is kontomire, perhaps the most popular edible leaf in the middle belt of Ghana. As you all know, it is obtained from the cocoyam plant, Xanthosomonas and Colocasia, species and used in stews and the green soup, abunubunum. I’m here to highlight some challenges confronting these species. One, consumption has reduced since the mass spraying of cocoa farms started recently. People think pesticides contaminate the crops growing in and around cocoa farms. So, those applying chemicals to their crops, in general, should be careful. Issue No. 2. Production of cocoyam tubers is dwindling in the country. Some think that when we pluck the leaves too often, cocoyam yields are bound to reduce. The question I will leave with you is: What should we do? Thank you.
Christiana Tanye (C2): “Sorrel, sorrel, sorrel” (holding Hibiscus sabdarifa, high). I’ve been wondering why insects like to make holes in the leaves. I got the answer when I saw the nutrient composition of the plant in a book. It’s so rich in vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Insects like it, and we equally like it. A typical northern woman will always plant it around the homestead. Parboil it, wash it, mash it, and cook with ground nut paste (peanut butter). It goes with tuozafi, akple, and banku. Red sorrel, the plant used to prepare the herbal drink called sobolo, is the direct cousin of this plant. Thank you.
Stella: One day, two women entered my house and spoke Ewe to us. They said that since they saw this leafy vegetable plant around our house (showing the plant to the gathering), the inhabitants would be Ewes. (Editor’s note: Ewe is a tribe in West Africa found in the Volta Region of Ghana and southern Togo and Benin.). This plant is popular in the Volta Region and is known as sorbi, amaga, and afume in different areas of the region. The Adzas of Benin call it sabo, and some northern tribes of Ghana also relish it. Its scientific name is Cleome gynandra, with the English common names ‘cat’s whiskers’ and spider plant’.
As a plant, it can’t withstand the least water stress, and it doesn’t like too much rain either. This makes it difficult to cultivate, and therefore, its rarity. Cooking also takes a long time as it has to be parboiled before putting it into palm nut or groundnut soup.
Next time we meet, I will prepare it for you and serve it with akple. Thank you. (The editor ever sent some seeds by courier to the Horticulture Department of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, to introduce the plant there.).
