>I know I should be thinking about more important things and I assure you – I do, but this one has been a long-running dilemma that needs solving right now!
Can anyone explain to me why waakye (or ‘Rice & Peas… but better’ to my non-Ghanaian friends) is often described as a breakfast meal?
I know it can be eaten any time of day and that some people also have rice dishes like jollof in the morning, but no one would ever call jollof a breakfast meal whereas waakye apparently has some particular association with breakfast.
The reason I have heard posits that it has something to do with the black-eyed beans not being good for night-time digestion. I have yet to hear of anyone calling ‘yorke gari’ or other bean dishes morning meals though.
Personally, I went to Kwabotwe and still have fond memories of breaking out of (…sorry, I meant sending other people from) the boarding house (*ahem*) into the middle of Kotokraba Market to buy me waakye by night from Jet. It’s been a night meal for me ever since…
… so what’s this ‘waakye for breakfast’ nonsense?
Kobby Ankomah Graham 