Foodways & Migration: Accra

Developed in collaboration with Jazmin Badong Llana.

In cooperation with the International Federation of Theatre Research conference at the University of Ghana in Accra, Spatula&Barcode hosted a conversation about food and migration for international visitors with the following local interlocutors: Dela Acolatse (chef and visual artist), Patrick Addo public health worker and demographer, Priscilla Doku Asare (scientist and activist), Ikenna Bobmanuel (private chef and food developer), Joseph C. Ewoodzie Jr. (teacher and storyteller), Mukasechic (culinary entrepreneur and women focused storyteller), Helen Bour (scientist and activist), Sanjana Kadam (food aficionado), Sandra Boatemaa Kushitor (scientist and activist).

The meal, which was staged at Dawadawa, a restaurant owned by our collaborating Chef Emmanuel Mawuli Dzansi, featured regional and indigenous ingredients. We discussed: What foods have been brought by immigrants to Ghana? What foods do emigrants take with them or miss when they move abroad? How have West African foodways shaped culinary traditions in the Americas (and other parts of the world)? What foods from one region of (West) Africa have traveled to another region? What challenges do immigrants and emigrants face when attempting to prepare familiar foods in foreign locations? What are the stories that surround these foods?

Special thanks to Rita Mawuena Benissan, Sanjana Kadam, Ekua Ekumah, and Maame Adomako who helped us to realize this event.