How our Muslim women left an entire nation hungry on Eid

Portia Arthur

September 12, 2016 12:56 PM

As they celebrate Eid ul-Adha today, we must pay much reverence to them for their hard work and tolerance as they continue to serve as with quality and healthy food.

Cooking is my hobby but I must admit that I love to buy all kinds of Ghanaian foods when I step out.

From hausa koko and koose to tuo zaafi, waakye amongst others, Muslim women make it a point to feed the nation when it comes to breakfast, lunch or supper. They wake up at dawn and go through the hustle of preparing these dishes for their consumers.

However it was different on Monday, September 12, 2016. A stroll through the various food joints for something to eat proved to be quite a hustle. Empty tables and chairs welcomed Ghanaians who wanted their favourite breakfast or lunch from their most reliable food joints.

It was Eid ul-Adha, one of the few days off for our Muslim women who have made it their responsibility to feed mother Ghana.

Those of us who love cooking can testify to the difficulty, skills, patience and efforts needed to prepare family dinners on occasions like Christmas, Easter and various anniversaries for everyone to applaud.

Personally, when the food I am preparing is not sumptuous enough for my guests, I avoid the critics and fry potato chips with grilled chicken. So easy to prepare; with or without assistance.

Although practice makes perfect, I believe it does not apply to food preparation. You can’t be accurately right about the quantity of food items needed to get the right taste.

It all about proportionately adding ingredients and tasting until you get to the promise land.

However, some people (food buyers) have set targets for the food vendors. They want the food to taste the same each and every time they buy it. Not considering whether the prices of foodstuffs are high or the factors that affect precision in cooking.

Once their expectations are not meet, they lash out at the vendors and ridiculously tell others not to buy from that food vendor.

Notwithstanding, most food vendors try to satisfy the need of their customers each passing day and we fail to acknowledge their efforts and skills.

The inspiration for this article comes from an undying love for my waakye which I didn’t get today from a popular food joint in my area.

Actually, the food parlour was empty. Then I remembered that our dear Muslim women are celebrating Eid ul-Adha.

It is same across most parts of the country as a few family and friends scattered around Ghana have confessed to the same disappointment.

Muslim food vendors form a majority of food vendors in Ghana and the role they play in this country has been underappreciated.

They practically feed the whole country from Monday to Sunday, risking their lives for our waakye, TZ, banku, hausa kooko and what not.

Before the cock crows, they are up preparing food for us and are probably the last people to sleep.

It must however be noted that on Eid, they left an entire nation hungry.

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Portia Arthur