Young Ghanaians launch 'reclaiming power' movement with indigenous cuisine

After three years at culinary school, Abiro Wisdom knew one thing for sure: he did not want to work in the conventional kitchen track the institution prepared him for. The course at Accra Technical University mainly equipped students for jobs in international hotels, focusing on French, Italian, and Mexican cuisine. The rustic, nutrient-dense dishes Wisdom grew up with in Bolgatanga, northern Ghana, were nearly absent from the curriculum.

“I didn’t see myself there,” he said of the big hotels. “I felt I wouldn’t be myself working there – I wouldn’t be able to talk about the food from where I was born.”

Instead, Wisdom joined the Ghana Food Movement (GFM), founded in 2019 – the same year he graduated – and quickly became a pioneer in promoting indigenous cuisine. “We are a community of food lovers who believe in the potential of Ghanaian cuisine,” he shared.

Ghana currently imports at least half of the food it consumes and is heavily influenced by foreign cuisine and ingredients. However, Wisdom believes northern Ghana – a key agricultural region with a diversity of nutrient-rich, climate-resilient crops and vegetables – could be the key to the country’s troubled food system.

GFM started as an informal network of volunteers concerned with the food system: chefs, farmers, entrepreneurs, and food security experts. In the early days, they met in coffee shops and held dinners in whatever space they could find, serving three-course menus often built around a single ingredient.

“Traditionally, we make tigernut milk, but we can create many different dishes, for example tigernut burgers or tigernut kebabs,” said Aimee Wallin, the group’s Malian-Swedish co-director. “We want people to taste what we’re about, not just hear about it.”

Officially registered as a nonprofit five years ago, GFM now has its own kitchen to test new recipes, many ideas coming from Wisdom. The group hosts periodic supper clubs, party nights with dancing, and talks and recipe-testing events for local chefs and businesses. “We can brainstorm together around an ingredient, such as moringa leaves, to demonstrate the ability to sell and turn a profit on dishes and drinks using indigenous ingredients,” Wisdom said.

GFM has also begun partnering with schools, helping children appreciate local ingredients.

Wisdom hopes this multi-faceted approach will spark national pride in Ghanaian cuisine. “My goal is to have a generation of chefs who believe in Ghanaian food and its own identity,” he said. “I’ve come to understand how food contributes to politics, economics, and personal identity. Now I can trace food’s impact from society, land, and sea, to the farmer, then to the market, and finally to our plates. As chefs, we must be able to tell the story of the dish.”

This month, GFM won the Champions of Change title at the World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards, recognizing the transformative work they are doing.

Colonial and foreign influence has heavily impacted Africa’s food systems, as ruling powers imposed land use for export crops like cocoa or peanuts, trading away food for domestic consumption. At the same time, they elevated imported ingredients like rice, breaking the sustainability of countries’ food systems. The consequences persist today: African nations are heavily dependent on imports and vulnerable to price swings when wars or crises disrupt shipping.

But as Wisdom realized at university, cultural influence remains stubborn: Western cuisine is still taught in culinary academies and favored in restaurants.

“The old mindset has always been that our practices are wrong and the West’s are right. That’s absurd. Why choose imports when we can grow our own?” Wallin asked.

She observed: “Part of the post-colonial agenda was to make us dependent on other countries. If not buying their products and vegetables, then at least buying their seeds, pesticides, and fertilizers.” Wallin pointed out that many of the local ingredients the group advocates for don’t need added agricultural inputs because they are already adapted to the local environment.

“The people who feed us will control us, and that’s the reality today. So if we want independence, we need to feed ourselves. That’s power. Reclaiming power from our food source and using it in our favor.”

Young Ghanaians are currently drawn to heavily marketed international trends like matcha lattes, bubble tea, or smash burgers. Wallin believes this also opens up culinary opportunities: attracting young people’s interest by offering alternatives – using moringa leaves instead of matcha in a latte, or making a tigernut shawarma instead of meat.

Both Wallin and Wisdom say their movement carries an urgent mission: saving Ghana’s culinary heritage before the knowledge is lost. “If we want to talk about the future food system, we need to talk to our grandparents, to farmers in the community, because they hold that knowledge. If we don’t do it now, it will be too late. This really is a ‘now or never’ moment,” Wallin said.