After being in the queue for more than an
hour to go through checks, the international student has enplaned. The
long queue certainly took the excitement of his journey away but this is
not the only thing stealing his excitement; the food he is leaving
behind. Don’t get him wrong he is also sad about moving away from his
family and friends but you know how technology has provided solutions to
bring them close despite the distance. O how this student wishes,
technology can help transmit food along cables. Then Fufu, Banku, Tuo
Zaafi (Ghanaian dishes) would be a dial away.
Fufu and Light soup (Ghanaian dish)
With suitcases full of dried fish (koobi, Amane, Keta school boys),
shito, flour (Fufu, Banku, Tuo Zaafi, okro) etc, this student hopes the
first few weeks wouldn’t be difficult to deal with ‘food nostalgia’.
Rumor has it he packed more food than books and clothing. It is my
prayer this student meets favourable weather conditions at the land he
is travelling to study. O! Diary, how I wished you could see the way the
food items were packaged. You may think this student has been a
‘bookman’ (a term in Ghana for a person who ensures passengers’ luggages
are well packed into buses) before. Trust me this packaging would
by-pass the watchful eyes of the immigration officers at the airport.
Did he hear of the predicament of this other international student who
was delayed by officers due to the 20kg of local food he was carrying as
they thought he was into imports and exports of local food without the
proper documents (I don’t know what got him off the hook though)? I
guess he did. Image by Google
Before boarding the plane, he made searches on Google for shops in
the city where he can get local food ingredients to buy. As usual,
Google was helpful to give a list of such shops. Thank God for Google. I
think he should be grateful to God that, many of his countrymen live in
this new country and city he is travelling to. This brings questions to
mind; what would he have done if there were no such shops? Would he
have packed food lasting for the period he was going to be in this new
place? I believe his diet would have been like students who find
themselves in this kind of situation. They only eat a particular type of
food (your guess is as good as mine). I am just wondering if these
students have heard about diet diversification and its importance to
nutritional well-being (this is another topic for later discussion but
if you are impatient to know, contact a nutritionist. Google would help
but always critique what you read).
As the plane is landing at its destination airport after hours of
being air bound, the only thoughts of this student are Mummy’s Ampesi and Garden eggs stew, Mama’s Banku and Okro stew,
and my thoughts; how can one accept the world to be a global village
when it comes to communication, business etc but can’t go global with
food? Perhaps, diets would be more diversified and the benefits for
health and wealth might be amazing.
Till my paparazzi and I bring you more stories on this student Diary, Cheers!
PS: Both He and she shall be used to denote the international student
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