‘WHAT’S FOR LUNCH?!!! ‘

Do you know the word LUNCH  is an abbreviation for luncheon? It’s a ‘light’ (Ghanaians shouldn’t hear this) meal eaten at midday. The origin of the words lunch and luncheon relate to a small snack originally eaten at any time of the day or night. But during the 20th century the meaning gradually narrowed to  small or mid-sized meal eaten at midday.’ (thank God!!) 

 ‘The meal varies in size depending on culture, and significant variations exist in different areas of the world.'(Wikipedia)

Okay I totally agree with Wikipedia, culture plays a big role in determining what’s for lunch. 

So what’s for lunch in your culture? 

I read in Asia a traditional Bengali (a region in Asia) lunch is a SEVEN course meal!!! What!! Bring that to Ghana please, it means lunch breaks at work will have to be 2 hours.

For parts of Europe, lunch in Denmark is a ‘light’ meal, which includes rye bread with different toppings such as cheese. 

In Finland they eat a full hot meal for lunch. Now that’s what I’m talking about. 

In Germany lunch is the main meal of the day, usually a savory dish..hmmm.

In Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, I hear it’s common to eat sandwiches for lunch, not bad.

In fancy UK, lunch is often a small meal, it’s almost like hey, just have this, we’ll eat properly when we get home. 

In the USA, lunch is a moderately sized meal. 

In Ghana, lunch is looked forward to with much enthusiasm. The worker who’s bum is stuck to her chair, surely looks forward to getting off and going to get deliciousness. 

We at home, are counting the minutes to lunch, cos breakfast has long expired in our stomachs. 

Lunch to a Ghanaian is anything yet again, I guess we don’t give a damn. We can eat what we had for breakfast as lunch and vice versa. So if you read my last blog about breakfast you’ll get the picture here. 

Today my idea for lunch is one of Ghana’s favorite meal, one many can’t resist, although my sister will disagree. She doesn’t know what’s up. 

Ghana’s favorite Fufu and groundnut(peanut) soup with Goat Meat. Hmm hmm hmm. 

Hearing it just makes your mouth wet, dayum!! 

Who can resist this baby? Bring him to me so I can convert him. 

This amazing dish can be found in many households, chop bars, restaurants in Ghana. It looks good, but taste even better, with the right cook of course. 

Fufu is basically cooked cassava and unripe plaintain pounded together. There’s something on the market called Neat fufu, so the plaintain and cassava are processed into flour, you mix this in hot water, turn and turn and you have something that ‘looks like fufu.’

It sells, but truly loyal Ghanaians always prefer their fufu to be beaten, lol. Nothing better than physically abused fufu, we love it that way. 

And the soup, well groundnut is the star here, even the worst cook can make this soup, its quite simple. It’s my favorite soup koraa. 

The protein gives the soup more flavor, so I chose goat today because those creatures are absolutely delectable, hmm…you can never go wrong with goat. 

I got my lunch at a small restaurant near Nuguchi, Legon, they don’t disappoint. The fufu was on point, the texture I like, not soft, not hard, just right and the soup was ahh! Mouth watering. The Goat was soft, melting in my mouth, it makes you want to relive it over and over again. 

If you’re in Ghana and you’re looking for lunch, you should try my lunch and maybe you’ll thank me after. 

After lunch is dinner, you’ll want to know what Ghanaians eat for dinner.. It might not be just ANYTHING… 

_Lorraine Stitch 

Image: Google