ACCRA’S FOOD JOINTS AND WHY PEOPLE PATRONISE THEM

Many years before Ghana’s independence [on March, 6, 1957,] the country had a relative smaller population whose people lived in societies that operated under mechanical solidarity. This means that ancient Ghanaian societies shared similar cultural backgrounds, language etc. Also, the learned social behaviour among societies seemed same. According to folklores, Ghana used to be an agricultural society where most citizens were farmers. These ancient folks shared their farm produce among themselves after trading and this, according to the tales, facilitated the practise of cooking at home. Buying food from the streets was not quite popular as it seems today.

One of the food spots patronize by some students and workers 

After Ghana’s capital was transferred from Cape Coast to Accra in 1888 by the country’s first president, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, capital became the economic and industrial hub of the newly born African state. This caused a rapid increase in rural-urban migration and the influx of foreign nationals and conglomerates. Gradually, the city became a cosmopolitan society and the trend has continuously changed tremendously over years. Accra which had a relatively smaller food “joints” [food vending spots and parlours] or none at all in certain areas now has so many that, they have even evolved over the years to the extent to that we have mobile food vendors [they move from one place to the other in vans].

Some of the patrons enjoying their meals

Most people in Accra today between the hours of 6 A.M. [06:00GMT] to 6 P.M. [18:00 GMT] and beyond buy food from vendors at vantage places. This has become necessary since the economic and social demands of the city do not afford one the opportunity to cook at home before going to their various work places, school etc. Most city dwellers leave their homes for either work or school as early as 5 A.M. because of the heavy vehicular traffic that comes to life at 6:30 A.M. in the city. Surprisingly people live in the Eastern and Central Regions of the country yet they work in Accra, they are forced to live for work early because of the distance and traffic, also the rail networks in the city in not developed.

When this writer visited some food vending spots, restaurants and some mobile food vans, it became evident that patrons of these food spots have various and different reasons for their patronage.

The reasons given by these patrons who are made up of a particular group, class, age, with different income levels and educational backgrounds varied from one person to the other.

Some of the food sold at the joints

It must be noted that in Accra, patrons who in marketing terms are known as true friends do not mind, taking a taxi cab from one area to the other  or to their favourite spot just to buy food.

This blog sampled five (5) students, pupils, elite workers, traders and construction workers each to elicit the reasons why they patronize one food vending spot or the other.  

Some students getting ready to eat

Of these groups, the interpretations of views sampled from students revealed that the groups choose food spots based on their disposable income [this was particularly so among male students] whereas female students paid particular attention to environment in which the food is prepared and sold plus their income.

“I buy from vendors because I have little or no time to cook at all, my schedule is so packed that I get home late and leave early...the vendors help me a lot,” a worker disclosed.

“Though I have little to spend on food, I pay particular attention to the environment, a student at the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) disclosed.

The sample also showed that workers buy from the vendors because of the number of hours allocated for lunch break; also, their schedules do not afford them the opportunity to even cook or consider bringing food from the house. Some construction workers noted that they buy heavy breakfast like banku [a delicacy made from maize] and so they have particular places they buy from since they are mostly bachelors and do not know how to cook. The sample showed that pupils were the group that took food from their homes to school however, majority of them still patronize food from vendors either because their parents could not afford to cook or there was no time for that at all.

Below is a video of what ensues at a typical food spot patronized by both students and workers.

                  Below is a graph representation of the groups and where they buy from