Even before I moved back to Vancouver after a year in Ghana, I went online to figure out where I would be able to buy the ingredients I'd need to continue cooking Ghanaian food back home in Canada. I found a listing for Afrika Market (which is the name I know this place by), and took note.
Its location isn't convenient for most of Vancouver (though probably just right for a lot of our African community), so it took me a while to get out there. When I finally did, it was CLOSED! Turns out Saturday is their off day, FYI.
The next time I had better luck. And felt even luckier when I walked in to find that this African grocery was actually a GHANAIAN grocery! I had expected Ethiopian or Nigerian owners who would patiently try to work out with me their country's closest equivalent to the Ghanaian foods I was craving.
Instead, I found shelves laden with banku, fufu mix, jars of home-made shitoh, bags of smoked fish and dried shrimp, real West African yams, and waakye leaves. Sometimes there are Ghanaian scotch bonnet peppers in the freezer. The Ghanaian owner was as surprised by a caucasian customer asking for these things as I was to find him selling them, but we both were thrilled to have found each other.
Note: as is common in Ghana, shoppers are likely to find that the specific things they are looking for are "finished" at Afrika Market. If you don't live in the neighbourhood, I recommend calling in advance if you know what you want, rather than making the trek on spec. That said, if you have no idea what any of this stuff is, I highly recommend visiting the place just for the experience. There are no Ghanaian restaurants in town, so buying some ingredients here and asking how to prepare them is your best hope at sampling this distinctive eating culture. read more