Gra-gra
Definition: To cause difficulty or annoyance
Synonym: Wahala

The one thing Nigerians have that Ghanaians don’t is Gra-gra. Although the country isn’t as slow-paced and is more developed than Benin or Togo, Ghanaians, Beninose and Togolese people don’t have wahala.

Chale e dey pap wa 

Nigerian translation: O gbona feli feli

In the case of Ghana Jollof vs Nigerian Jollof, the jury is still out. Right from Togo, I had been asking about where to find the best Jollof in Accra and most of the suggestions led us to Buka at Osu, Central Accra. It’s at this point I’d like to address what seems to be a false perception of what income bracket I belong to. Because when we asked to film, we were politely prohibited from filming in a certain area because High Network Individuals and Diplomats are frequent clientele and they don’t like to be caught on camera. Who can guess why?

That didn’t stop them from being ever so accommodating and letting us set up quite elaborately in their outdoor space. My first impression of Ghana Jollof was that it was missing something. Several forkfuls in, and I still couldn’t place it. It had all the trappings of regular Jollof, tomatoes, rice, onions, pepper, but something had been left out. Then I put in some Shito (hot pepper sauce) and realised that was it — a trusty sidekick was missing. Ghana Jollof is created to go with Shito, the way bread is made for butter. It’s made a little blander than we Nigerians are used to because anything spicier would be an overkill when Shito is thrown in. And beloved I say this as objectively as possible, but when you throw in that Shito, Chale e dey pap wa.

In the spirit of immersing myself in the culture, I also ordered a bottle of Asana (Ghanaian drink made from fermented corn and caramelized sugar) to go with my Jollof. I have to say, I could have gone my whole life without needing to ever have tasted Asana. Like with Banku, I suspect it’s an acquired taste for me. And while I’m willing to give Banku another shot, this time with some grilled Tilapia and Shito instead of Okra, I don’t think it’s going to ever work out between Asana and me.

Unlike in Benin and Togo, Buka is only one of the thousands of places I could try Jollof in Ghana and that’s exactly what I’m going to keep on doing for the next couple of days.

Eazi goes it

We ran into Eazi at Buka and he was gracious enough to make a whole ass video telling you guy, you have to stick with us on this 80-day adventure and take a fan photo with Kayode and me.

Today we are all going to pretend we still have the same alcohol tolerance we has when we were 20 and attempt a bar crawl. We are also going to go in hunt of some more Ghana Jollof and try kenkey for the first time .