Malabo (Equatorial Guinea), Nov. 24, GNA - Most Equato-Guineans love Kokonte (aka lapiwa, face-the-wall) and okro soup, a popular Ghanaian dish.
Mr K. Asare, a local chop bar operator at the Ghanaian community in Calacolas, a suburb of the country's capital Malabo, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on Wednesday.
The dish is mainly prepared with cassava flour and eaten with meat or fish with sauce.
Mr Asare said the people eat other Ghanaian dishes such as banku and fufu prepared from cassava, popularly referred to by Ghanaians in Equatorial Guinea as 'fufu rasta'.
"The local groundnut soup and palmnut soup are eaten and enjoyed by the people as well," Moses a Ghanaian who had spent 10 years in Equatorial Guinea told the GNA.
He said the Equato-Guineans main dish "is 'Mbo' a meal made from kneaded cassava in the form of gari and wrapped in leaves to boil. It is usually eaten with fish or meat sauce".
The GNA gathered from other sources that there are two other dishes. One is grilled fish or meat and served with crushed pumpkin seeds while the other is made with chicken prepared in cream sauce or in pea nut butter and garnished with boil plantain or rice and eaten with bread or yam. Over time, many different people like the Portuguese, Arabs or Spanish had influenced the Equatorial Guinea cuisine.
Because all the country's coasts are situated in the Atlantic Ocean most dishes are prepared and eaten with fish.
The country is made up of ethnic groups comprising the Fang, Bubi, Annobenese, Bujebas, Ndowe, Pygmy, Bantu and Kombe. Equatorial Guinea attracts nationals like Spaniards and the French. There is a thriving Lebanese community, Arabs, a large number of Filipinos, and a rapidly expanding Chinese presence.
Many workers from African countries are drawn to the service industry, with jobs boosted by the country's oil boom.
The Equato-Guineans official languages are Spanish and French. The Ghanaian community, who use Twi as the commonest medium of communication, reside at Colacolas, a Spanish term for snail. 24 Nov. 10