Fufu

Fufu is produced from cassava and either plantain or yam in southern Ghana (where I live). Cassava is a flavorless starchy root that is widely available throughout Africa. The cassava and plantain are first cooked. The mixture is then crushed together using a large mortar and pestle. One person often stands and pounds, while the other sits and mixes the fufu while the pestle is in the air. As a consequence, you'll get a giant sticky ball with a dough-like consistency.

Fufu, like most African and Middle Eastern foods, is often eaten by hand and accompanied with a wonderful sauce/soup. This information may frighten you if you were up in a Eurocentric setting where eating is done with cutlery/silverware. If you've never eaten finger foods before, I recommend "warming up" by being open-minded and possibly starting slowly with Ethiopian finger food, and then working your way up to Fufu, which is a more sophisticated eating experience. Fufu is a hefty dinner, thus it is often eaten on Sunday afternoons in Ghana, when most people have returned after prayers at their separate temples and there is nothing else to do. The concept is that you prepare yourself, eat the meal, preferably with a cool Guinness, Heineken, or water, and then enter a condition of 'Fufu paralysis,' which generally entails a protracted snooze as the Fufu charts its way through your digestive system.