When Tom Soya meets Tom Brown
The continuing strikes, threats of strikes and demonstrations over entitlements by different groups of workers, notably those on the government payroll, not to mention students, make for an uneasy environment.
Advertisement
These seem to underscore not only a disbelief in the Government’s ‘no money’ response, but also the ineffectiveness of current procedures for ensuring industrial peace.
The situation is also particularly reminiscent of 1978 when, similarly, the country experienced numerous workers’ agitations.
But then maybe the disbelief arises from the mixed signals, resulting in a view that because state money is going into other areas the protestors are not prepared to be the ones to sacrifice and wait patiently for better times.
The restive mood, coupled with the ever rising cost of living, generates gloom and the ongoing revelations and confirmations about the woes of the country’s economy add to the bleakness.
Nevertheless, despite this disturbing backdrop, a look around supermarkets and markets shows an interesting development: that the private sector of the economy is demonstrating admirable creativity and enterprise.
Some of them are assiduously modernising many of our indigenous dishes, turning them into great convenience foods, packaged for supermarket shelves and for export. So it’s not all a buy-and-sell economy!
Even with our famously tedious-to-prepare Ghanaian staple, fufu or fufuo, some very innovative people have succeeded in coming up with an instant, flour version to take out the labour associated with its preparation.
Other Trending Stories
Interestingly, the fufuo flour manufacturers appear to have knocked out of the competition all those who in the past captured headlines with their invention of fufuo-making machines, which based on the traditional method, mashed the boiled plantain or cocoyam pieces to form into balls.
Invariably, each time there was news about the invention of such a machine people would question its acceptability, because to them the very idea of fufuo by machine was unthinkable. They couldn’t imagine eating fufuo prepared any other way but by pestle and mortar, turned and shaped ready for the accompanying soup by a human hand.
However, doubtless fufuo- lovers resident abroad always followed with keen interest news of fufu-machine inventions, because until recent years, they have been thriving on a fake fufuo made from combining potato flour with potato starch.
Then evidently somebody dreamt up the brilliant idea of converting plantain and cocoyam into flour for an instant fufuo mix, requiring only water to be added before cooking for a few minutes and shaping into passable fufuo balls.
A name that comes readily to mind as a pioneer in the instant fufuo market is Tropiway, apparently based in the USA. It’s not clear if it’s a Ghanaian or African company, but the Tropiway products, formerly found in the UK and the US are now also available here. And I recently discovered Mama’s Choice fufuo mix, also produced in the USA.
Also, currently, a number of made-in-Ghana fufuo flour brands have entered the scene, including the well advertised Neat Fufu.
All the preparations I’ve come across sell for less than GH¢10.00 a packet, which may be a reasonable price for one or two people, but I wonder if a family of four or more would find that economical.
Banku flour preparations seem to offer the widest variety of Ghanaian staples, but many other flour forms of other staples are available.
These include breakfast favourites such as Hausa kooko (porridge) and what has long been popularly known as ‘Tom Brown’ (roasted corn flour for porridge and other dishes, with a brown colour).
Some of the manufacturers whose products are in my local supermarkets, apart from Tropiway, Neat, Mama and Selasie, include Winnie and Hords.
The Hords people must have a sense of humour because the name they have given their breakfast soya-wheat- blend-with-vanilla is ‘Tom Soya’.
I imagine that this will bring smiles to the faces of those who love puns and who are familiar with the two children’s books classics bearing the name Tom, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by the American writer Mark Twain, and Tom Brown’s School Days by the Briton, Thomas Hughes.
Advertisement
I applaud the humour behind the name, seemingly rhyming Soya with Sawyer. And, surely, when newcomer Tom Soya meets Tom Brown on the shelves, there’s bound to be some laughter.
But probably the widest variety of convenience foods available is the shito or pepper sauce, much cherished by boarding school students. Now people don’t have to bother about making shito for school or for travel. The only problem seems to be how to know the best-tasting, as there are so many kinds!
Another staple of boarding school life, the humble ‘gari soakings’ (gari mixed with water and sugar) has now gained status and respectability as a well packaged item on shop shelves, rubbing shoulders confidently with sophisticated imported snacks.
One more remarkable development on the snacks front is the rise of plantain chips, although some years ago, the most common snacks on sale along our streets and in traffic were pastries, especially meat pies.
Advertisement
Clearly, this is good news for plantain farmers. Maybe one explanation is the escalating price of wheat flour, making the production of bread and other flour foods less profitable.
Unfortunately, fruit farmers don’t seem to be benefitting as much from the boom in local manufacturing. Every year, reportedly much of the fruit in season rots because not enough is being processed into juices and other things. One remembers the days when the Refresh fruit juice, and Insu mineral water, produced by Astek Industries could be found all over the place.
Sadly, Astek, a pioneer in its field, collapsed years ago. A great pity, going by the present demand for bottled and sachet water.
Thus, clearly the top prize for sustained production has to go to the brand Nkulenu. Nkulenu Industries, founded by the late Mrs Esther Ocloo, has been producing its lead product, the Original Palm Soup Base and others, for more than 70 years for sale in Ghana and abroad.
Advertisement
Seventy years of production is no mean achievement in the turbulence of Ghana’s manufacturing arena.
Sometimes when one comes across a new product with potential one wonders how long it will be available. For example, currently, Coco Fresh, the fresh coconut water I have been recommending to family and friends, has disappeared from the places where I used to buy it. So, recently when I chanced on jars of shredded roasted ginger coated with sugar, produced by Love Cafeteria, I wondered how long it would be available.
Ghanaian entrepreneurs have long been complaining about the high cost of doing business here. Why can’t the Government do more to make business here entrepreneur-friendly and assist local ventures to expand and even export?
Surely, expansion would also mean the private sector being able to pay more taxes and employing many more people, thus taking up some of the employment burden from the government.
And, who knows, this could ensure sustained industrial harmony.