Market Day
I went to market today, which was sufficient enough to make me feel accomplished. The nearest market to me runs Sundays and Wednesdays, and I’m usually there at least one of those days. Without storage space or a refridgerator, I basically am limited to shopping for a few days at a time (as is everyone else here, which is why markets are generally open twice a week).
I had a good trip this time around, so decided to blog about it and post a photo. So counterclockwise, starting with the bread:
- Bread (1.00)
- Bananas (free)
- Groundnut Paste (1.80)
- Bissap (.10)
- Okra (.20)
- Onga (.10)
- Tomatoes (.20)
I go through 1-2 loaves of bread a week. Prices of basic market goods are universal, and bread is very easy to find - if I’m lazy, I just get it off of a woman’s head out the window of a tro-tro. Yes, really - so I buy it often. It is generally consumed with the following two items.
The bananas were dashed to me as I left the market, I was going to buy some anyway but a woman gave me 4, so I didn’t have to. The price for 4 would have been .10, by the way. Because the smallest coin in circulation (commonly; not technically) is the 5ghp “nickel”, that means it’s impossible to pay for fewer than 2 bananas.
The groundnut paste (which is just “organic sugar-free no-preservatives-added peanut butter”, by the way) is a 2x/month purchase, so while it did take a chunk out of this week’s market allowance, it all evens out in the end. I was going to pick it up Sunday, but my Groundnut Paste Lady was all sold out and so I had to wait. The container is mine; the paste is sold by “spoonful”, my container holds 18 spoonfuls. You do the math!
When people speak of the “nectar of the gods”, what they don’t realize is that they are actually referring to Bissap. This frozen lump of ruby goodness is my personal reward for dragging my lazy self to market (20 minutes each way, people!) under a noon-day sun. It’s a sweet tea made from hibiscus flowers, with so much ginger you’d think it was actually pepper-tea. At market it’s sold frozen: a bissap-pop. If I had a freezer I would have it every day, but as it is I literally chase down the Bissap Girl every time I go to market. I could write an overly-emotional Ode To Bissap, but I’ll stop now.
Okra and tomatoes are self-explanatory, I hope. These will be cooked with onion, hot pepper, gari, and beans (which I picked up last Sunday) tomorrow.
“Onga” is just boullion. Flavour powders and cubes are staples in all Ghanaian recipes, (”Maggi” is the most common), but Onga is one of the few easily-obtained varieties that doesn’t have any MSG. Since meat is too much trouble to deal with, I’ve become mostly vegetarian — but I still give in and use small-small Onga in beans, stews, etc.
So there you go. An average mid-week trip to the local open-air market. Total time: 1 hour. Total cost: 3.40, or “34 t’ousand”. Now try to hit up your air-conditioned, over-priced, mega-supermarket with the same perspective you had last time!
