No tuozaafi no food among the Dagaaba of Ghana: understanding the cultural aspects of the uses of food

ABSTRACT

This paper examines cultural dimensions of food among Dagaaba of north-west Ghana. Using mixed methods, the study participants comprised 8 individual key informant interviews, 150 semi-structured questionnaires, 6 focus 10 group discussions, and 34 in-depth interviews. The findings of this study indicate that, tuozaafi, the main staple is a tool that is used to welcome guests by host households and the latter are expected to prepare tuozaafi for visitors even after they have prepared a different meal for the consumption of household members. Also, this study revealed social differentiation in terms of norms and customs around food consumption with men, particularly heads of households and children being served first in food sharing. Furthermore, the study showed that men eat with men, children with children and women with women. In sum, in this examination, it is argued that, the consumption of food goes beyond meeting nutritional and biological needs to nurturing social relations and meeting ritual significance. This therefore implies that, individuals, and households’ decisions on food consumption, and the cultural significance of food particularly tuozaafi in the Dagaaba cultural milieu are potential pathways for understanding future outcomes of interventions that seek to enhance the nutritional value of local foods.

KEYWORDS:

• Dagaaba
• North-West Ghana
• tuozaafi
• cultural aspects
• ritual uses
• nutritional and biological
• households

Acknowledgments

We wish to thank the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (UK) for financing the PhD of the first author- a product of this paper (Grant no. GHCS-2014-136). Similarly, we will like to thank the chiefs and people of Doggoh and Tie for the warm reception and cooperation during the fieldwork and data collection. Thanks also to the research assistants that assisted in the data collection and audio transcription.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions

This study was part of the first author’s PhD thesis. He conceived of the study, formulated the research objectives, designed the methodology, collected the data, performed the statistical analysis, interpreted the data and wrote the reports. The second author supervised the PhD hence gave relevant advice throughout the PhD period.

Ethicalapproval

This study was approved by the University of Reading Research ethical clearance committee.

Informedconsent

The researchers obtained informed consent from all the participations before collecting data from them.

Notes

1. See Figure 1 that shows the study area

2. Jirapa Municipality was purposively selected because the main indigenous ethnic group is the Dagaaba (GSS, 2010).

3. Village analysts as persons carefully selected who are experts on the geographic frontiers of the two villages and the neighboring villages for the social mapping exercise.

4. Note that the findings of this study applies as at 2016 as things in the study area may change as compared to the period the period of data collection.

5. Village lead persons were two persons (1 male and 1 female that the Assembly member – i.e., the representative of Doggoh and Tie electoral area at the local government level recommended to lead the researchers around the villages and make suggestions on key informants).

6. In this section, tuozaafi is considered same as TZ (Pronounced “Teezed”). The local name of TZ is saabo (this may appear in some of the farmers quotes)

7. Po means porridge throughout the whole of this section.

8. Maize – w Means Maize white color.

9. Maize (y) – Maize yellow color.

10. A local mechanism for the preservation of TZ (VIKI interviews, Doggoh and Tie – see Figure 3 and detailed description forms of tuozaafi: preparation, similarities, and differences).

11. Mashed TZ and water added to it for drinking (VIKI interviews, Doggoh and Tie villages).

12. A Dagao is anyone that is a member of the Dagaaba ethnic group (VIKI-5-D-M, VIKI-5T-M)

13. A ritual in which children are put in the grave with the dead prior to burial to fortify them against certain illnesses (VIKI-5-D-Male, VIKI-5-T-Male).

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the British Government under the administration of the Commonwealth Scholarships Commission (UK). The author was awarded a Commonwealth PhD Scholarship.