Nii Ayikwei Parkes has created an evocative world of science clashing with magic, the modern battling the traditional, in the Ghanaian crime caper Tail of the Blue Bird, from where I excerpt the following passage of yummiferous foodiness:
Oduro laughed and stamped his feet, and Kayo noticed Esi suppressing a giggle with her hand as she reached over to take the water away. She returned, accompanied by her mother, with earthenware bowls filled with fufu and the richest, reddest palm nut soup Kayo had ever seen.
On the surface of the soup were cuts of okro, chillies and garden eggs. Large chunks of antelope meat were submerged like vessels guarding pale cream islands of fufu. The soup was steaming hot.
Akosua lit a torch close to them so that they cold see their food, then she put her arm around her daughter's waist and marched her back to the rear of the hut.
Oduro poured a bit of palm wine on the floor and said, 'Our fathers, we share our meal with you.'
The men looked at each other, nodded their heads, and then, as one, dipped their fingers into the red soup.
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