The Vim Views & Versions - Blogs of a MIghTy African

Me and my people we eat waakye every Wednesday. Why? Because Y has a long tail. No, we did not mean that . But we really mean to eat waakye - on Wednesday - above every other meal. We have been waging a #WaakyeWednesday campaign since since. We ushered it in. Others joined. It is a thing. I mean, we would go through wrinkles to get this done. Search for the hashtag . Corporate companies, hospitality services have all joined in. Waakye is the best selling food in the whole wide web. Okay, the whole wide world. What? It is not true. Have you seen the waakye queues anywhere? Have you seen how it gets finished a few hours after the #waakyewherehouse starts selling it? Okay, make your points as comments. But you cannot disagree that we must eat well abi ? Here's a story that captures the essence of the brand. Published on a #WaakyeWednesday of course, after a #233moments post . This story is from many moons ago.  I went to drop off a friend at Legon just before #WaakyeWednes...

As you might know, GhanaThink (of which I lead) has been running the #GhanaianDream campaign. Learn about it here & there , and see some social media posts, especially these ones . There are lots of Ghanaian Dream versions by Ghanaians from all walks of life, and all sorts of opinions, needs, wants, beliefs, situations and experiences. What is my Ghanaian dream? Here it is . I have another Ghanaian Dream . One I would love to wake up to. Read on. Start A Ghanaian man / woman wakes up in the morning in his SSNIT Flat in Accra, turns off his alarm clock made in China , and then tunes into the Citi Breakfast Show via the Citi News app . He eventually gets out of his bedsheets sewn in Kumasi , puts on his clothes made by Wear Ghana , belt made in Kumasi, socks from Chale Socks , shoes from Horseman Shoes , puts on his  Caveman watch . He proceeds to have his breakfast -  Brother's Bakery , Tom Brown Mix from Kolikoli , eggs from Ulzenap Farms , drinks his pineappe jui...

This is another one. Just like the other one. :-) Earlier today, I was in  Osu  on  Oxford Street  after running a number of errands. I had some time to burn and my phone was off. So I decided to go to the Oxford Street mall. I'd never entered it before. When I got to the Shoprite , I had an idea. I'm going to check for as many times that are made in Ghana and sold here. Revelations. Read the following tweets  capturing the some of the edible things  :-) #MadeinGhanagoodsshopritesells : Ideal. Carnation. Why, u don't use these @ home in #Ghana anymore? Them dey o. Staying power thx 2 Nestle. — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) June 7, 2014 #MadeinGhanagoodsshopritesells : Evaporated Ideal milk is on sale! #Shoprite - proudly supporting Ghanaian products. pic.twitter.com/1jYoNb3T7E — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) June 7, 2014 #MadeinGhanagoodsshopritesells : Two thousand finest sugar. By Two thousand Ltd, hall avenue st. 2000 house. #Adabraka . Lonely ...

Earlier today, I was in  Osu  on  Oxford Street  after running a number of errands. I had some time to burn and my phone was off. So I decided to go to the Oxford Street mall. I'd never entered it before. When I got to the  Shoprite , I had an idea. I'm going to check for as many times that are made in Ghana and sold here. Revelations. Read the following tweets  capturing the some of the edible things  :-) #MadeinGhanagoodsshopritesells : The music they are playing in the #Shoprite supermarket. Amakye Dede type stuff. DJ must be from #Sunyani . — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) June 7, 2014 #MadeinGhanagoodsshopritesells : #Voltic . V for vim. Seriously, it's really good that Voltic is produced in #Ghana . #CocaCola dey force. — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) June 7, 2014 #MadeinGhanagoodsshopritesells : Tom tom & Hacks. Oh wait, these ones sold at #Shoprite at #Osu are produced in #Nigeria . But why? — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) June 7,...

If you think I started writing this blog post because I'm hungry, You lie bad. I have had 3 huge meals today and I had to refuse another meal because I had had my fill. Africans like food and we have many different types of food from our many cultures. There must be many opportunities to say 'I'm hungry' in Africa. Or ar the very least, food. So here, with some help from  my African friends , we have a list of 23 to work with.  Akan:  ɛ k ɔ m de me. Aduane.  Pretty easy to say. You don't want to have to say a mouthful when saying such important thins. :-) Bonus in Fante -  ɛ k ɔ m dzem. Edziban.  Yea, you've heard of Kwame Dzokoto's show? I love it! Ga: H ɔm ɔ  ye mi. Niyenii.  Definitely heard the statement before, Havne't quite caught the name fot food until  +Naa Oyoo Quartey  told me.  Ewe:    ɛ d ɔ  ny ɛ  wum. Nudud u.   +Seyram Freddy Ahiabor  taught me this. I wonder if it's alsmost th...

Msiniseme, kma anpenda kula . Don't tell anyone, that I love food . If you think I started writing this blog post because I'm hungry, You lie bad. I have had 3 huge meals today and I had to refuse another meal because I had had my fill. After I'd arrived in the US in September 2001, I realized I had grown quite tall. I gave credit for that to all the ' gaso ' I'd been having at Presec . ' Gaso ' or 'gas oil' is the sauce that accompanied rice, waakye and other meals we had at Presec. It was some sort of diluted stew, but not quite as rich as a soup. I had a lot of it. Many Presec prefects didn't patronise the dining hall but I did. Maybe it was the beginning of my love for free food. I used to eat so much while in college at MIT but I never grew big. I was always lean and slender. People would always ask me how I never grew bigger in spite of the garguantan amount of food I would eat. " Where does all the food go? " So many p...

Ne dis   à  personne que j'adore manger! Don't tell anyone that I love to eat! Msiniseme kama anapenda kula! I was keen on trying different Togolese dishes while in Lome last weekend. The first place I went after arriving was a Pizzeria to go meet some Global Shapers . I told them, "I want to know the best places for pizza in Lome but I definitely didn't come to eat pizza here" . And from what happened while in Lome, I didn't come to Togo to go eat rice either. Now, that's pretty awesome :-) My first real meal in Lome was at a spot (I still don't know the name). I was there with  +Wilfried Toussiné  &  +Amen AMOUZOU . We had akpan which is made of corn dough , together with some peppery sauce & mayonaise . We ordered two big tilapias and a lot of fried plantain . The food was tatalalicious to say the least. No wonder Wilfried's friend Rachel was oohing and aahing about Togolese food being better than Ghanaian food. Even the tilap...

Yesterday, after getting Indomie with  +Esi Cleland-Yankson , she asked that we go get something to drink as well. So we walked to the nearby Kuuks Market at American House to buy some drinks. Not alcohol o! My first instinct when buying any drink in Ghana is to go for a local option. Like palm wine. Bissap . Sobolo. You know? They didn't have any. I was going to settle on Vita Milk, which I love. But then I wandered about more, and saw another interesting drink - " Chilly Mashed Kenkey ". Lovely, just lovely. Someone has packaged "Mashke". I was definitely buying. It's local and fits the bill of the moment. Indomie and Mashke. Esi got a Snapple. I love Snapple too but I already explained my rationale. Does it have a Standards Board sign? Esi asked. If it was approved by the Ghana Standards Board, then it was a good product. I have no idea what Standards Board approval looks like. It's some Adinkra symbol like that. I couldn't find anything to...

I've become a fan of Indomie this year. I needed to have supper one night, and it was late. I wanted something affordable. Open Sesame. Welcome Indomie. I mean the one that's been prepared and sells in multiple corners of Ghana . I bought some Indomie for about 3GHC. I enjoyed that meal totally. It reminded me of when we used to eat 'spag' in Presec - spaghetti with sardines, corned beef and shito. Only this time, it was richer. It had sauce, eggs, corned beef, veggies, and noodles . The one they advertise for kids in the mornings but adults buy more personally in the evenings. I would have Indomie when it was late, I was lazy to get something out of my kitchen, and I didn't have other dinner plans. Unlike waakye , you have to wait for your Indomie to be prepared. 10-15 minutes. Initially, I'd place an order, find somewhere to go and something to do for 15 minutes, and come back for my Indomie. Eventually, I figured I couldn't really do the waiti...

I had some major tasks to do at work today so I couldn't afford to go waakye before going to work. It was still going to be a #WaakyeWednesday for me though. I would leave work when a lot of heavy lifting had been done to go check the nearby waakye wherehouses to buy my favorite dish. Turns out it wasn't going to be too easy. But then again, it's waakye . If it's easy to get waakye further into the day, then it's not living up to its billing as a meal in heavy demand. Huge waakye lovers of the waakye crew can always create demand though. My favorite time of the day, 2:33pm, was arriving, and I wasn't about to eat waakye and worse still, I hadn't even bought some. I was running low on petrol so I drove to the Kotobabi Total to buy some fuel that ensure I didn't get stuck on my waakye hunt. Nyame ne Hene Waakye Joint is right there. I didn't even park. I stopped right infront of it and asked, " Waakye asa anaa ?" The response was affi...

Have you ever asked yourself "where can I get waakye to buy in Accra?" Better still, have you wondered where to get the fastest selling food in the world while in Accra so you can have a Waakye Wednesday ? I am here to help :-) Here are a few places to eat Waakye in Accra in no particular order of preference. Sorry, they are exactly Google mapped yet. Waakye Special  - Such a generic name. Works for me. This is located near the Roman Ridge Assemblies of God place. I like the lady who sells there. I just wish she would smile more :-) She makes most of my  #WaakyeWednesday  days come true.  +Seyram Freddy Ahiabor  will attest to this. Xroads Waakye  - This is one of the 2 places I regularly get waakye. I patronized it once after I thought the last place I featured had given me a raw deal. The lady serving here had a "tattoo".  Tattoo waakye o ! Another time, she told me it was one of those designs Northerners do on their hands. It's okay, I fell...

Wednesdays are extra exciting for me, because... yes, you guessed right.. it's that day that rhymes with my favorite meal - " Waakye ". The food that sells out faster than any other the whold wide world. So on my way to work, I passed by my favorite place to buy waakye these days, to get some and make today a Waakye Wedensday . The X-Roads spot at the Nyaho junction to the train tracks was not opened. " ɔ redi Sallah" was the message I was given. I drove to the next spot where I normally buy waakye from and voi la, she had also taken an extra holiday. Eish, when +Mohammed Muntasir Nashiru  and  +Ibn Shiraz  mentioned that the real Sallah party was Wednesday, I hadn't thought that would mean waakye was going on strike... So I tweeted .... #Waakye sellers seem to be on holiday in Accra o! Barka de Sallah. #WaakyedeSallah ? #WaakyeWednesday 's in jeopardy. #waakyecrew , help please — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) October 16, 2013 +Michael Ocansey  was ...

Waakye ooo waakye! Where from this whole #WaakyeWednesday business? I could eat waakye every day. In fact, I used to eat waakye every day for lunch at a point in time. I like waakye so much that while in the US I had to learn to prepare & cook it just so I could have it whenever I wanted. I learnt how to do so from my friend and eventually learnt how to make shito too via my Mum. I once cooked a waakye meal for like 23 people at Stanford and they loved it. I will never forget one statement a friend made. She said " Ato, you've been single for too long, you should not know how to cook this good ". Yes, I can cook. At least, I can make delicious waakye that you might mistake for that from Auntie Muni. Waakye is just so all around me in Accra and Ghana that I don't have to bother making it. I'm not complaining. I will do a blog post about places to eat waakye in Accra later. Waakye is the fastest selling food in the whole wide world. There are many t...