The steamy love affair between West Africans and fufu makes it an intrinsic part of West African culture. Eating fufu is a skillful art passed on from generation to generation. Appreciating Fufu is recognizing its origination and the richness of food in culture. The lifestyle of eating fufu deepens ancestral connections and reminds generations that the deep pleasure of swallowing a morsel of fufu with your bare hand is a testimony of a rich culture that embraces food as a way of connecting deeply with who you are.
The word “fufu,” which means “mash” or “mix” in the Twi language used in Ghana and the Ivory Coast, is a common term across West and Central Africa as well as the Caribbean. Fufu is, at its core, a somewhat sour, spongy dough formed from cooked and crushed starchy food crops like plantains, cassava, and yams, or a mixture of two or more, in a mortar with a pestle. Each nation has its preferred recipe for fufu, including Nigeria, Cameroon, Togo, Benin, and Sierra Leone. However, fufu originated in Ghana after the Portuguese introduced the region to cassava in the 16th century.
The simple pleasure of fufu embraced by the West African culture lies in the rhythm of pounding, to the sensuality of dipping fufu into the soup with your bare hands, to letting it slide down your throat, and licking your fingers because it can never be said that a drop of such delight went to waste.
Fufu is not a trend or a challenge. It is embracing a lifestyle that connects us to our heritage!
