Gold Coast Ghal Kitchen

Cooking is life. Eating good food is life. My grandmothers taught me to cook, or should I say put me to work, until I learned how to cook. By the time I was 4, they trusted me to make rice, which is the highest honor in a West African home. In our family, every meal was a celebration. We made big dishes because there was always a steady string of people passing through – people we thought were lost to the Liberian Civil War.

The war drove us out of our native Liberia to Ghana, where we could live without the threat of upheaval. So, when these long-lost friends and family showed up for dinner, it was a cause for celebration. Food brought us together, and cooking continues to carry our bonds.