Street-Vended Local Foods Transformation: Case of Hausa Koko, Waakye and Ga Kenkey in Urban Ghana

Abstract

People in Ghana accept various dishes as national foods that originally, were consumed in particular regions and among particular ethnic groups. These foods form part of the national culture and are developed through several processes. National food cultures are developed through a simultaneous process of ethnic specialization and the advancement of national cuisines, which bring into focus the local as well as the national aspects of foods. The approach to this study was case study methodology with different data collecting tools in three cities: Accra, Kumasi and Tamale in Ghana. We developed literature on transformation of food-cultures and showed how the process of migration of people produced cuisines in contemporary Ghana and transformed ethnic dishes into national ones. Through the memories and narratives of female vendors’ knowledge on the preparation and vending skills, these cuisines were transferred to other people. The results showed how local foods continued to exist, how some aspects of local foods had changed, and the underlying cultural migration and the producing food vendors and consumers that influenced food transformation. We concluded that several factors mediated this dynamism in Ghanaian foods.