In America, fast food places can make your meal in about 5 minutes. In Ghana, most restaurants cook your food fresh only after you order it, so nothing is ready before you get there. Sometimes I have to wait up to 40 minutes for a meal! My Ghanaian friends have a smart trick. They call the restaurant ahead of time to order, then we go do something fun or relaxing while the food gets made. By the time we get there, it's almost ready!
Ghana is warm and sunny, which is perfect for growing cassava, plantain and corn. Those are the plants used to make fufu and banku. Plantains and groundnuts (peanuts) both grow well here too, so snacks like plantain chips are made from food grown right in Ghana! Tilapia comes from fresh water like rivers and lakes, so the fish is super fresh. Even the leaves in waakye come from a plant that grows here! Goats are connected to the environment too. Goats are tough animals. They don't mind the heat, they can eat lots of different plants, and they don't need a big farm. That makes them easy for families to raise, so people here have been eating goat for a really long time. That's a big reason it's such a favorite!
