By Kwesi BISSUE
Once upon a breakfast
There lived Corn
Corn gave life to a family of daily porridge
Mpampa and Hausa Kooko and Egbeemi
Mpampa loved to cook thick with hot ginger
Hausa Kooko fared well in nature’s colourful spices
Always in harmony with Koose’s spicy flavour
But Egbeemi preferred to stay white and yet rough
Now in these days of a fast break
Corn suffers a scorn
Corn must give way to a morning beverage
Custard and Coffee and Lipton tea
As well as the fake corn in the Cornflakes
Corn gives way to yet another
A very long and winding… sticky Spaghetti
Giving no way at all…to even an Oatmeal!
II
Once upon a lunch break
There lived tubers and fingers
From nature’s store of carbohydrates
Apem and Cocoyam and Pona Yam
Apem nearly always appeared in Apotoyiwa
Surrounded by kontomire’s greenland
Cocoyam called along a sauce created from garden eggs
But Yam liked to be smashed into Eto
Made from palm oil, groundnuts and boiled eggs
Not so long ago
There also lived Rice and Beans and Plantain
Beans mingled with Gari in red
To accompany ripe Plantain
…in red red
Then Beans mingled with Rice later
To chaperon Gari and Talia
…in waakye
Now in these days of a fast brunch
They have loved an easy munch
From a prized Pizza to a fried Gizzard
From a spiced grilled chicken
To a Ketched up fried rice
From minced yam balls to fried yam chips
III
Once upon our supper
There lived Cassava
And there lived green Apentu
The two mixed uniformly in a mortar
The mixture landed heavily in an Asenka
And waited for a sizzling Abunuabunu
To invite many licking fingers
Not so long ago
There lived Corn dough
And Cassava dough
The two doughs mixed smoothly
In a hot aluminum pot
The two rounded up in a waiting bowl
And waited for slimy okra
To measure slippery morsels with speed
Whilst one corn dough learned to stand alone as Etsew
To learn to speak Fantse Fantse
Another corn dough turned and turned to churn out Kenkey
Keenkey teamed up with a green pepper
And a blackened shito
To meet fried fish on a hot afternoon
Not long after that
There also lived powdered Millet
Also powdered Okra and Kuka
To give life to an evergreen Satoroga
The two powders blended and bonded
To give birth to an appetizing Tuo Zaafi
Just as a powdered cassava turned dark brown
To transmogrify into Kokonte
Now in these days of a fat dinner
They have dined just to be fine
From banku balled in a plastic wrap… and a tempered Tilapia
To Indomie with a spicy kit
To a rolling Shawammar
To a hotdog and a barbecued goat
…on a beer
IV
Once upon a time
We waited for our farmers
To work hard to our good health
Now in these days of a fast mealtime
We dote on our importers
Thankful for working on our craving taste buds
Once upon a time… never comes again
